


Still

by F1SH



Category: GOT7
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, M/M, Slow Burn, also a little bit of a college au too, sort of soulmates?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-14
Updated: 2017-10-25
Packaged: 2018-12-15 09:31:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 25,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11803281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/F1SH/pseuds/F1SH
Summary: Jackson's never been good with mysteries. So what happens when he wakes up the next day after clubbing and doesn't remember anything? That and his roommate's suddenly nagging him to go home early. At least the guy he meets one night is good-looking.





	1. Forgetting

In hindsight, Jackson should have seen this coming.

As Mark had often teased him, “Jackson, you always attract the weird ones.” So he really shouldn’t be surprised that the handsome guy with cat-like eyes that he was trying to entice (and had successfully done so) from across the dance floor has a sort of oral fixation or just an odd neck fetish. Seriously, it wasn’t like Jackson had any qualms about being pinned to a gross bathroom stall door and having his neck practically ravaged by the guy but he certainly feels like they could be doing something else than _this_ since they’ve been doing _this_ for the past 12 or so minutes.

It wasn’t like the tall, clad in black, and incredibly gorgeous guy was bad at what he was doing, on the contrary, Jackson didn’t know that his neck had that many sensitive spots—it’s just that if he doesn’t get more soon, he’s going to be having a very serious case of blue balls. He tries to gather his wits as the other man continues his ministrations on his neck and the faded trum of rave music goes on.

“Hey,” Jackson grunts as a set of particularly sharp teeth gently scrapes over his pulse. He uses his hands which were clutching at the other’s shirt and gives the taller man a soft shove, dislodging him from Jackson’s neck. The answering growl he receives simply turns him on even more. He tries to speak again.

“Uhmm hey,” a pair of dark eyes looks down on him, there was a unique shine to them that Jackson thought was immensely attractive; getting distracted, he wraps his arms around the guy’s neck and pulls him down for a quick peck.

“I really appreciate all the attention you’ve given my neck but you know you could pay attention to the rest of me,” he punctuates the sentence with a languid kiss, enjoying the taste of the stranger’s mouth: a hint of alcohol, citrus, smoke, and something metallic, and hoping that he sounded sassy as he had intended instead of desperate.

  
Hands find their way onto his backside, a firm squeeze to his butt makes Jackson yelp into the the other man’s mouth. The Chinese man feels, more than sees, the smirk against his lips. He retaliates by increasing the pressure of the kiss, feeling one of the hands on his back shift to his leg, hitching it around the other’s hip.

The sounds of the party they were in suddenly clearer than the muffled bass earlier on, someone had come into the bathroom. Jackson shrugs and goes on with his heated makeout session, successfully wrapping his legs around the black haired man who takes it in stride, hands cupping Jackson’s ass to lift him up and hold him against the cubicle’s door.

“Jaebum-hyung, the sun’s coming out in two hours,” a voice calls out and the man that Jackson’s been not-so-subtly grinding onto stills. The guy, _Jaebum_ , slowly sets him down on his feet and looks at him with an apologetic yet frustrated expression.

“Jaebum-hyung, we don’t have much time anymore. You can drink at home please,” the voice says again, louder this time and almost pleading. Jackson notices the way Jaebum has his mouth firmly shut and the way his chin juts out in what could be irritation.

“You can go, it’s no big,” Jackson sighs.

Whoever was calling for Jaebum sounded kind of young so he wouldn’t be surprised if the other man had snuck out his younger brother or something for a night out but now, they both had to get home or face the wrath of their parents. He gets it, he has an older brother after all.

Jaebum just stares at him with his extremely dark eyes, his lips pinched red from all they’ve been doing. Jackson expects him to just say bye and leave but gets pleasantly surprised when  Jaebum snakes an arm around his waist and pulls him closer, their chests against one another. He receives a chaste kiss that he almost chases after, holding back to let Jaebum go but the black haired man just rests his head on Jackson’s shoulder, breathing in the shorter man’s scent. Jackson really doesn’t know how to react to this, this felt too much like a _moment_ yet he’s having it with someone who he assumed would be a potential one-night stand.

“Jaebum-hyung, pleeeease—”

“Yah, I’m coming,” Jaebum retorts into Jackson’s neck, he can feel lips ghost over the skin there and briefly wonders what’s up with this guy’s neck fetish before there’s a wet suction right over his pulse point and he lets out a strangled groan. That’s probably the 7th hickey he’s received from Jaebum during the short span they were together, he cringes at himself for letting himself get marked so much.

“See you, Jackson,” Jaebum whispers beside his ear as he slowly puts some space between them. Jackson looks at Jaebum’s face, trying to embed the man’s chiseled features and sly smile into his mind because he would inevitably never see him again. His eyes meets Jaebum’s and the attractive little twinkle on them does something to his stomach.

Jackson suddenly feels a little woozy, stumbling a bit and feeling Jaebum catch him before he hits his head somewhere. He vaguely hears the stall opening and Jaebum talking to the same voice who called out to him earlier.

His world slowly turns to black, the last thoughts on his mind being: _how does Jaebum even know my name?_

* * *

 

When he wakes up, the first thing that registers in his mind that he wasn’t on his bed, however the worry that Jackson felt immediately dissipates as he recognises the plush leopard print blanket draped over his body and the suede couch he was on. He was at Bambam’s a.k.a. the friend he was with at the club last night.

Jackson gingerly gets up and finds a glass of water and some painkillers on the coffee table beside him. There was a post-it note on it with Bambam’s cursive penmanship saying:

He huffs at the note and feels a weird headache coming, it didn’t feel like his usual hangovers. Downing the pills, Jackson makes his way to the balcony of Bambam’s bachelor pad. The Thai boy was given his own place when he moved to Korea for college and a small part of Jackson is jealous that his parents didn’t do the same for him. He doesn’t complain though, he loves his shared apartment with a certain Park Jinyoung.

Thinking about university, Jackson idly checks his phone for the time and date, making sure that the new semester does indeed start the next week and that he won’t be missing the conditioning training for fencing tonight. He tries to remember what occurred last night since he can’t recall drinking much and he knows his tolerance so that he doesn’t get blackout drunk; Jackson wonders if he just overestimated himself last night.

“Hyung! I’m back and I got us acai bowls,” Bambam announces his return, the sound of the door shutting and footsteps shuffling into the flat queued Jackson to return inside. The younger boy asks him what he was doing at the balcony and Jackson simply waves him off with a shrug, joining Bambam at the black marble topped breakfast bar.

“Which one is mine?” Jackson enquires as he looks at the two bowls of healthy goodness presented to him, he wouldn’t mind having any of them but he is particularly fond of strawberries. Bambam just laughs when he catches Jackson eyeing the one with strawberries and almond slices, he pushes the bowl to his friend who thanks him in kind.

After a few beats of eating in a comfortable silence, Bambam clears his throat. The older between the two just sends the other a curious look as he takes another spoonful of his breakfast.

“Sooooooooo someone may have had a little too much fun last night,” the leer that Bambam sends him was enough to make Jackson choke a little on a particularly big piece of granola. He replies with a glare but that doesn’t deter the other at all, on the contrary, it just encourages Bambam to continue.

“I mean, hyung, I have a boyfriend and I _don’t_ let him do that much to me especially on places where other people can see,” Bambam gestures to his neck and Jackson has a weird sinking feeling about last night.

He fumbles to get the phone from his back pocket, Jackson belatedly realises that the clattering sound was his plastic spoon dropping to the floor. He hesitantly opens the front facing cam and sees how absolutely scandalous his neck looks right now. There were (thankfully) only two visible marks from above his shirt collar but one of them was big and awfully burgundy compared to its smaller dark red blotch of a counterpart. A third one was shyly peeking out of his shirt and he begrudgingly tells himself to examine the rest of the damage when he gets home and showers. First thing’s first though, he needs some answers and the only possible witness to what happened to him is happily munching on a bite of blueberry and coconut flakes while sat opposite to him.

“Bam—Bammie, my bro, my friend, my favourite dongsaeng—”

“Just spill it out, Jackson-hyung!” Bam cuts him off and laughs at him. Jackson’s glad that someone seems to find his apparent misery entertaining.

“Bam, I don’t remember what happened last night like a total blank, I just remember arriving at the party with you and then everything else is just nothing, hell, I don’t even remember how I ended up at your place” he rushes out and watches Bambam’s expression of mirth shift to concern.

“Hyung, I don’t know how much you drank but let me get this clear, you don’t remember who left like a thousand hickeys on your neck?!” The Thai native’s voice cracked a bit at the end and if Jackson wasn’t so distressed himself, he would’ve made fun of Bambam for it.

“I don’t,” he admits sullenly and picks up the spare disposable spoon near the tissues that were given with their two bowls. Jackson starts swirling the contents of his breakfast, not up to the task of finishing it off. Bambam coughs to get his attention.

“Listen, hyung, there’s a bunch of things I can’t answer for you but I can tell you this, Yugyeom brought you from the bathroom of the club passed out. I just thought you had a little too much to drink. I saw your neck and just assumed you were being you and had a little fun with someone,” Bambam was babbling which didn’t sit well Jackson, whenever the younger was babbling it meant that he was nervous about the topic at hand, “but like I asked Yugyeom about it when he helped me put you on the couch and he said that you were fine and nothing bad happened to you, it’s just that you got too carried away and y’know that I trust Yugyeom with my life and I know he wouldn’t lie to me about this and—”  
  
“Wait, Bam, slow down, breathe. And hold up, Yugyeom was the one who carried me when I was passed out? Kim Yugyeom? As in your weird ass boyfriend that I haven’t met yet ‘cause he refuses to meet with me?”  
  
“Hyung! He doesn’t _not_ want to meet you! It’s just ‘cause he’s usually busy in the mornings to the afternoons so the only time he can meet up is night time! By then, you’re usually swamped with fencing training so it’s really just a case of conflicting schedules,” Bambam emphasises his point with a casual slap to Jackson’s bicep, all the nerves from earlier seemingly forgotten but Jackson is so close to Bam, knows him like a younger brother really, that he can see the little fidgets the Thai boy’s eyes do and how his hands were a bit too quivery to be steady.

  
He figures if he can trust anyone, he’d trust Bambam (if Mark was out of the equation) and with that comes Bambam’s utmost faith in Yugyeom. He sighs and lets the topic slide, deciding to just worry about it when that night decides to bite him in the ass.

They spend the rest of the morning together, chatting and the occasional rough-housing after the heaviness of their breakfast conversation. When the two have caught up sufficiently and briefly touched on Jackson’s absent memories, they bid each other goodbye. However, Bambam did invite Jackson to stay over since Yugyeom was coming over and the two of them could be formally introduced, Jackson declined due to his scheduled fencing practise.

* * *

 

Upon getting back to his quaint housing arrangement, he’s immediately greeted by the smell of ramyun; one of the few dishes that both he and his roommate can muster up without fatalities. Jackson slips through the threshold and locks their apartment door, seeking out Jinyoung and wondering if he can convince the younger to make him some too.  
  
Just the brown-haired boy was about to round the countertop to get to the stove and see if his roomie made enough for him too, Jinyoung emerges from his bedroom. The younger was wearing a simple white shirt and black shorts meaning he wasn’t planning to go out anytime in the day. Jackson smiles and opens his arms as Jinyoung approaches him, hugs between the two of them became customary ever since they decided to live together during their second year of university. Weirdly enough, Jinyoung doesn’t enter his arms and hug him back, the darker haired boy stands a feet away from Jackson. Jinyoung’s normally elegant posture was rigid and his eyes were scanning Jackson cautiously. Jackson notices this and puts his arms down, tilts his head to the side in question.

“Jinyoung?”  
  
The speed at which Jinyoung invades his personal space was impressive, even Jackson’s athletic conditioning barely made him react in time. A not-so-gentle tug to his collar and the bruises on his neck (and his shoulders to an extent) were in full view to Jinyoung who was normally embarrassed or lacked interest in these type of things. Jackson tries to diffuse the situation by attempting to speak but he’s stopped by Jinyoung’s voice pitched lower than usual.

“Jackson, where did you get these?”

“Ahhh...would you believe if I said I can’t remember?”

With that, the eyes that were sternly focused on Jackson’s neck suddenly snapped up to meet his own eyes. The utmost apprehension in Jinyoung’s eyes made Jackson swallow the sudden dryness in his throat. Jinyoung was still scanning him, as if looking for something that Jackson wasn’t sure he could present to his roommate if need be. He places a doubtful hand on the taller boy’s shoulder and smiles nervously at Jinyoung. That seemed to snap Jinyoung out of his trance as he conscientiously peels himself off of Jackson and clears his throat.

“Jackson, I’m sorry if I startled you, it’s just that I wasn’t feeling well today and everything’s been making me jumpy,” Jinyoung offers a small comforting smile that Jackson returns hesitantly.

“It’s alright, we all have those days. Just, uh, make it up to me by letting me eat some of your ramyun,” Jackson asks sheepishly, the interaction they had seconds ago still lingering at the back of his mind.

“You’re silly, I made enough for you. I even used that organic stuff that you love,” a genuine smiles appears on the younger’s face, making his eyes turn into pleased half-moons that Jackson’s extremely fond of.

“Great!”  
  
“Anyway, go shower first and I’ll go get our food ready.”  
  
They both settle on the couch with a bowl of ramyun each. A drama was playing on the television, Jackson doesn’t watch it but he knows that Jinyoung tunes into it so religiously that he wouldn’t have doubted if Jinyoung says he skips class just to see it. As the pair settle in a comfortable silence, both eating their lunches and watching on the TV, Jinyoung breaks it.

“Jackson, don’t let anybody into the apartment that you don’t personally know, okay? Just don’t. Don’t give an invitation for anybody to go in especially if you’ve only met them recently like this week.”  
  
The older between the two was about to put an end to Jinyoung’s impromptu spiel but the younger just powered through the words that Jackson was about to say.

“Wear your glasses when you go out or wear contacts, your grade is high enough that it should be enough...Don’t forget that please, I know you hate them but just trust me for once,” Jinyoung squeezing Jackson’s arm softly while smiling warily.

“Don’t stay out too late and walk under well-lit areas where a lot of people can see you, okay?” the pure concern emanating from Jinyoung’s eyes just put a stop to the clever retorts on Jackson’s mouth. Jinyoung was never like this, he’s usually calm and warm not anxious and flighty so he says yes just to put him at ease. He does ask one question before he agrees though.

“Why?”

Jinyoung pats his cheek in an affectionate way and tells him not to worry, it’s just a precaution and he’ll have to confirm his suspicions before he can tell Jackson for sure. The shorter man reluctantly gives into Jinyoung’s seemingly arbitrary requests.

It’s not like anything bad will come out of it?

* * *

 

Jackson stretches, making several of his muscles burn after the intense training session their team just had. He smiles in content as a cracking noise comes from his back when he bends down all the way to the gym floor.

“Wang, I’ll let you lock up, alright?” his coach informs him, the old man hauling a sizeable duffel bag over his shoulder.

“Okay!”

He finishes the rest of his stretches in relative ease as Jackson has practised the sport since he was young. Fencing was fortunately something he both excelled at and enjoyed although he begrudgingly took it up when his father insisted that he learn his trade. It was during the time he won an Asia-wide competition that Jackson heartily strived to improve his skills. The Chinese native decided to pursue it in Korea where the training was more rigorous and a cozy scholarship for a well-known university was offered.

Locking up the gym was a common occurrence for him, Jackson was preparing for bigger (and harder) competitions than most of his teammates and usually ends up being the last to leave. He quickly changes to a black tank top and grey sweatpants for the walk home, stowing away all the equipment he used, and making sure everything was in place. Once Jackson deemed that everything was in place, he locks up the hall the fencing team uses; carrying his own bag, he awkwardly digs for the heavy black framed glasses he uses to read but is too conscious of to wear in public. Jackson pulls on a hoodie the same colour as his top and he braves the cold night air.

The walk back to the apartment wasn’t very long. Jackson’s memorised the number of steps it takes to safely arrive at his doorstep ever since he decided to forego the bus however, during his routine journey home now, he becomes acutely aware that he’s being watched. He squares his shoulders and closes his hood tightly around his face, starting to brisk walk towards the more well-lit areas of the street. It was late and not much people were around the sports centre at this time of night, he thinks that the eyes he feels trained on him is just paranoia induced by Jinyoung’s sudden warnings. Jackson tries not to get so worked up but when he hears shrill giggles echoing from behind him, he starts to run to the nearest bus stop. Screw walking home. As he speeds for the bus stop, thankfully fluorescent, he swears he saw twin flashes of pale skin and black cloth shadowing him.

At the stop, he notices that he’s not alone. A man who doesn’t look that much older than him was on his phone, standing right beneath the streetlight while waiting for the bus. Jackson is relieved that he isn’t alone since the whole random laughter from the dark incident has his spine tingling in fear. He wonders if he’s imagined it or if Jinyoung knew something that he should. A nice deep voice interrupts his train of thought.

“You look shaken,” the man next to him says. Jackson turns to him and notices how the other man wore a leather jacket and tight black jeans.

“Ahh, uhm, something weird just happened to me, it’s nothing,” Jackson waves it off with a smile which he hopes doesn’t look as forced as it feels.

The man just nods at him and scrutinises him more, Jackson thinks it’s because of the geeky glasses. A soft smile graces the other man’s face, it’s a bit lopsided, one corner rising higher than the other; Jackson sees a more mischievous smile for a second, he shakes it off.

“So what are you doing out so late? At this neighbourhood to boot,” Jackson asks before he could think about how awkward that probably was, making random conversation with a stranger at a bus stop at this time of night.

“But, uh, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to though!”  
  
Jackson flails at the man, he thinks that he’ll cringe so hard at this memory in the future. To add insult to injury, the other man seems so chic that he’d probably find Jackson annoying if not just embarrassing. The answering humm he receives from the man makes him focus on the other’s face. Jackson admires the two moles on one of the man’s eyelids, he finds it cute.

“I just took a walk and ended up here. I’m going nowhere really. How about you?”

“Oh! I came from the sports centre down the street, I just finished some training,” he beams at the man. He belatedly realises that he hasn’t introduced himself, his mother would berate him if she saw how  impolite he is right now.

Jackson extends a hand and hopes the other man won’t find it weird, “by the way, I’m Jackson.”

There’s a beat of silence and Jackson figures that he overstep his boundaries, that the stranger was just making small talk and wasn’t out to make new friends at a bus stop in the middle of nowhere. Just as Jackson’s about to retract his hand, the man grasps it tightly.

“Jaebum.”

 


	2. Training

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Thanks for the kind words about the first chapter. Hopefully the second one would be great as well :) Also, in terms of posting schedule, I'll probably update once every 1-2 week/s. It depends on how busy I am with everything else :D Anyhow, chapter two! Enjoy!!

The bus ride home was quick since Jackson’s building was only one stop away. He wishes it was longer though, Jaebum was good company and he didn’t seem to mind that the Chinese native tends to talk more than listen. In fact, Jaebum paid close attention to whatever mundane thing Jackson decided to babble on about and offered a comment on occassion.

It was a bit awkward when they both departed the bus, Jaebum insisting that he walk Jackson all the way to his apartment building at least. As the two of them walked, Jackson couldn’t help but find something oddly familiar about Jaebum.

“Hey,” he claps the taller man on the shoulder, this makes Jaebum whip his head around to face him, a look of surprise on his face before he schools it to a passive indifference.

“So this might sound weird but have we met? You seem really familiar but I can’t figure out why,” Jackson says with a friendly smile.

“We might have come across each other a few times,” Jaebum responds nonchalantly.

“Really?”

Jaebum just shrugs so Jackson takes it as a cue to let the topic die down, maybe they’ll get a chance to talk about it on another day. The petulant déjà vu nagging him at the back of his head can wait. Tonight though, he keeps the conversation polite since he does owe it to Jaebum who graciously accompanied him home. Thinking of whatever could’ve been watching him at the sports centre still creeps him out in spite that it could’ve just been his imagination playing tricks on him.

“You’re nineteen now, right?”

The low timbre of Jaebum’s voice snaps him out of his thoughts and Jackson hopes he’s not reading the signs wrong. The older man seems to be _interested_ in him and he prays to all the deities willing to listen that he doesn’t make a fool of himself. Jackson steps closer onto Jaebum’s personal space, tilts his head in an inviting gesture, and answers with a smirk.  
  
“Yep,” popping the ‘p’ sound in the word. Jaebum just brings a cold hand to Jackson’s nape and squeezes it, the younger of the two finds the action endearing. They continue to walk, closely side-by-side, to Jackson’s apartment.

“Then you should call me ‘hyung’ then. I’m older than you,” Jaebum smirks back at him.

“Okay, Jaebum- _hyung_ ,” Jackson tries the honorific out and finds that he doesn’t oppose of it for now. It’s not that he’s not respectful but he did grow up in Hong Kong where such terms weren’t strictly enforced.

The hand on the back of his neck tightens an increment amount causing Jackson to turn to Jaebum, he notices that the older man is looking at him intently. Rather than facing away like most people would have when caught staring, Jaebum smiles cockily as if daring Jackson to do something about it.

Just as Jackson is about to respond, he notices that they’re already in front of the brick building where his apartment is. He stops walking and turns to Jaebum. Jackson considers inviting the man up for a cup of coffee since it’s only fair that he does because Jaebum walked him all the way here and even talked to him on the bus, however, the warnings Jinyoung gave seemed pretty logical in his current predicament.

“So, uh, hyung, this is me,” Jackson points to the black door leading inside. Jaebum just raises an eyebrow at him and the younger boy feels like he should say something to make their parting less awkward.

“So hyung, I’d invite you up for coffee but my roommate t—is in the middle of spring cleaning! I can’t bring anybody up to the loft or he’ll fucking kill me,” Jackson says, ending the babble with a bright smile. The answering frown he receives from Jaebum makes him guilty, he quickly comes up with a solution to this. Jackson reaches for his smartphone in the pocket of his sweatpants, hurriedly inputs his passcode, and shoves it to Jaebum with the new contact screen ready.

“Here! Put in your number and I’ll buy you a coffee whenever you want, hyung! The only times I won’t agree is if it’s in the middle of my training or classes but the rest of my time is fair game,” Jackson beams at him.

Jaebum smoothly accepts the offered phone and is typing away. It was during this time that Jackson hopes that he really didn’t read the situation wrong and that Jaebum would suddenly run off with his phone. When his phone was given back to him with a new contact labeled _Im Jaebum_ , Jackson relaxed and beamed at the taller man.

“Go up before I regret giving you my number,” Jaebum tells him with a smile of his own and a caress to Jackson’s bicep.  
  
He looks at Jaebum with his dark reddish hair and stylish ‘bad boy’ outfit, Jackson feels a tiny bit blessed that he got to meet such a kind _and handsome_ stranger after that scare he had. He glances down to his phone which still displayed Jaebum’s contact info, a warmth spreads from his insides. Jackson doesn’t believe in love at first sight but he knows attraction when he feels it.

“We wouldn’t want that now, hyung!”

Jackson heads up the steps to the building’s entrance, he opens the door and turns back to see Jaebum just standing there and watching him. He feels a blush creeping onto his cheeks and he’s glad that he wore his bulky glasses that probably hid it.

“Bye Jaebum-hyung!” he says as he closes the door to the building. Jackson watches Jaebum’s unmoving figure slowly disappear behind the door. He feels giddy as he runs up the stairs to his apartment.

“WANG JACKSON!”

Jinyong shouts as soon as he opens the door to the apartment. He’s not so surprised since his roommate does have a tendency to sound like a nagging mother every now and then. He wonders what he’s done this time to warrant the oncoming reprimand.

“Why were you out so late?”

“Aish, Jinyoungie, you know how my fencing training sometimes ends later than usual,” Jackson shrugs as he takes off his glasses. They do help with seeing but that doesn’t mean that Jackson’s fond of them.

“I know, it’s just that I worry…” the way the younger boy looks forlornly away, making a heavy lump in Jackson’s throat. He understands Jinyoung worries about this things, one of the first things that Jinyoung made known when they moved in together was that he had lost both of sisters during an accident.

Jackson sets his bag beside the couch and walks towards his roommate, carefully enveloping him in a hug. He feels Jinyoung hug back, he smiles at his roommate in a reassuring manner.

“Hey, nothing’s happened to me, I’m okay.”  
Jinyoung sighs and pries himself out of Jackson’s arms. The younger boy seems to be mulling over something before his thinking face slowly morphs into an expression of determination. Jackson just gives him his time and settles on the couch, waiting for whatever it is Jinyoung is about to say.

“Jackson, you may have a... _stalker_ ,” Jinyong states, slurring the word ‘stalker’ in an odd way.

The laugh that escapes Jackson’s mouth wasn’t planned. He wanted to take what Jinyoung was going to say seriously but he was not expecting that. Jackson knows he’s attractive, he was even called “wild and sexy” during his younger day yet he couldn’t stop laughing. A throw pillow collides with his stomach particularly hard that makes him focus on Jinyoung again.

“Okay, okay, I’ll stop laughing, Jinyoungie. I’ll let you explain this whole _stalker_ business.”

“Thank you.”

Jinyoung says before he takes a deep breath and gazes at Jackson seriously. The older boy simply nods and lets Jinyoung explain himself, awaiting to be amazed by Jinyoung’s claims.

“There was someone standing across the street, staring straight into our living room window at midnight. I spotted them when I got a snack from the fridge.”  
  
Jackson gestures for Jinyoung to keep talking because he’s afraid that if says anything, it’ll sound petulant and childish when Jinyoung is obviously serious about what he’s saying.

“I have some suspicions about the nightclub you went to as well. It’s notorious for certain _activities_ and they may have slipped something into your drink that made you forget what happened. I’m taking huge leaps of judgement and just flat out say that your v—stalker was there.”

Jinyoung takes Jackson’s silence as a sign to continue.

“Also there may be more of them following you,” Jinyoung spots the grin starting to form on Jackson’s face. The younger boy scowls.

“Jackson-ah! I’m being serious here, don’t laugh!”  
  
“I’m sorry, Jinyoungie! But I can’t help it, it doesn’t seem real. I mean, I’m pretty approachable so most people would’ve come up to me rather than stalk me, you know what I mean?”  
  
“I know! But think about it, Jackson!”  
  
The older of two gives a hum of acknowledgement.

A hard slap on his bicep, Jackson thinks he deserves that. Jinyoung was just being a great friend after all, expressing his logical assumptions, now that the dubious Chinese boy thought about it. Among those thoughts was the one about the creepy giggling he heard when he finished training and the shadowy figures he may have seen as he ran away from the sports centre. Well, that proves that Jinyoung is onto something alright because Jackson did end up following Jinyoung’s advise the first time around and didn’t find himself confronting whoever it was that was staking him out.

“Jinyoungie, tonight, when I locked up the fencing hall, there were people watching me like I felt eyes following me as I walked out of the centre. And y’know how I usually walk home? I fucking took the bus ‘cause I swear saw two super pale people wearing black and I don’t know if that’s just a stalker stereotype or what but what do you think?”  
  
Jackson spouts and watches Jinyoung freeze where he stood.

“This fast? Shit. Jackson,” Jinyoung says, more to himself than the questioning boy. The Korean native sits next to Jackson and clutches his shoulders, the way that Jinyoung’s hands are trembling doesn’t sit well with Jackson.

“Jackson, never go out at night alone. Ever. I’ll pick you up from training if I have to,” the darker haired boy states, Jinyoung reminds Jackson of a fierce lioness protecting her cub; he can only nod in agreement. However, there were still a ton of questions that he wanted to ask.

“So, uhh, it’s not that I don’t believe you, Jinyoungie, you’re totally convincing but just, this is so hard to believe and I’ve never had to worry about stalkers. These guns (Jackson flexes) aren’t just for show.”

The younger boy pushes down Jackson’s arms as if his muscles were offensive while making a face of tolerant irritation. Jackson muses that Jinyoung would be rolling his eyes right now if his roommate wasn’t trying to engage in a very serious conversation.  
  
“Jackson-ah, it doesn’t matter whether you believe me or not, what’s important is that you have to be more cautious, okay?”  
  
Jinyoung pats Jackson’s shoulder and gets up to go to his own room, an obvious dismissal but Jackson wasn’t entirely done with the conversation.

“Jinyoungie, can I ask one question though?”  
  
There was a hesitance in Jinyoung’s stance but he bobs his head in agreement. Jackson rakes his brain for which one of the many questions he wants to ask, trying to decide the perfect one to ask his roommate. He settles on what was probably the most important one.

“How do I know you’re telling the truth and this isn’t just some elaborate prank with Mark?”  
  
“Jackson, I would never lie to you about your safety.”  
  
The Chinese boy gapes before he fixes his facial expression into one that’s hopefully less petty to Jinyoung. Jackson bites his lip and lowers his head, feeling like he crossed a line with their friendship; he doesn’t like how it feels as if he doesn’t trust Jinyoung because he does. He figures he can afford to trust in Jinyoung again, even for just one month of rearranging his schedule to heed the warnings given to him by the younger boy.

“Okay, Jinyoungie. I believe you, goodnight.”  
  
“Goodnight, Jackson-ah.”

When Jackson lays on his bed, he couldn’t sleep. His head was swimming with Jinyoung’s words and the possible gravity of the situation he got himself in. He curses himself, he can’t even remember if he had a good time that night or not. He knows that Jinyoung wouldn’t lie to him about something as serious as this so all Jackson can do now is hesitantly accept that he’s being pursued by shady characters. He scoffs. Jackson falls asleep with the giggles he heard and Jinyoung’s words haunting him, completely forgetting about the new contact in his phone.

* * *

 

“Markiepooh! How are you?”

“I’m doing alright, Jacks. How about you?”  
  
It was the Friday before the semester started but more importantly, Mark and Jackson’s weekly Skype session. When Jackson decided to move to South Korea for university, his long time best friend Mark Tuan from Hong Kong also decided to leave the city and pursue university in Los Angeles where he was born. Mark’s a year older (technically a few months) than Jackson so the American(Taiwanese in ethnicity!) boy was already done with his studies and working.

“Could be better, it’s been a bit of a bitch moving my fencing training to the mornings,” Jackson whines to his phone, Mark snickering on the screen.

“I’ve heard from Jinyoung, I actually don’t understand how you convinced your coaches to switch the whole team’s schedules to fit your _special_ circumstance,” the tone of Mark’s voice suggested that he didn’t completely believe what transpired last Monday despite the younger boy sending graphic descriptions of that night through the multiple social media they had.

Jackson huffs and doesn’t let Mark’s disbelief deter his newfound careful ways. If the Chinese boy comes clean, he’ll actually say he doesn’t fully believe Jinyoung’s story although his roommate is trustworthy. However, it’s always better to be safe than sorry. The fact that Jackson’s always been a bit of a scaredy cat also fueled his more _cautious_ actions.

“I didn’t change the team’s schedule! I’m practising the same time as the Junior Varsity is so I’m basically just using the same space and getting trained by the same coaches but—” Jackson emphasises the word with a dramatic pause, ”—I still do the regiment I’ve been on before and I’m guessing it’ll only get harder ‘cause the coaches have more energy in the mornings.”  
  
“Tough luck, buddy.”

“You could sound a bit more sympathetic, y’know? _Oh, Jackson! I was so worried about you and all the potential dangers you’re facing!_ ”

The last sentence was said in a squeal-like tone and exaggerated phrasing, Jackson pretends to be an over-the-top person in distress for the camera. He knows, rather than sees, that Mark’s rolling his eyes in response, followed by the fond sigh that the older boy seems to reserve just for Jackson and his antics.

“Again, _tough luck, buddy_.”

Mark mimics the flamboyant way the younger boy enacted the last sentence which makes Jackson bursts out in a hyena laugh. His laugh is quickly accompanied by Mark’s own bubbly giggles.  
  
They talk about everyday things like how Mark’s thinking of changing jobs so that he could be happier, the desk life just wasn’t for him; or how Jackson still has night time training on Fridays because he does have to spar with people who are somewhat on his level. The two friends bask in each other’s presence through their phones.

“But in all seriousness, if you’re really in some sort of trouble, you can always come to me, okay?”

A part of Jackson was touched that Mark was willing to extend a helping hand, he would have engulfed the American boy in a bone-crushing hug for being such a wonderful bestie. He smiles at Mark and the other boy does so too, the older boy’s too-handsome features softly bathed by a yellow light. Mark’s smile gets disrupted by a yawn.

“Time for bed, Markiepooh?”  
  
“Hmm..probably, it’s almost nine here and work was insane. What time is it over there?”  
  
“Just after lunch,” Jackson chirps, watching as Mark settles on his pillows and begins his _nesting_ process with the blankets. Another yawn and the Chinese native sees how Mark has trouble keeping his eyes open.

“You can go ahead and sleep, Marky! I can just go out and do something, you do know how I’m not a homebody like some people I know,” he wiggles his eyebrows to tease the sleepy boy, Mark snorts before giving an answer.

“Yeah, right! Go out and have fun then, you social butterfly! I would hate to be the one that pins down your wings,” the older boy’s bright laugh was a bit dampened by his sleepiness.

The responding cackle that Jackson gives to Mark was louder than the other boy probably wanted because he furthers his phone away from his drowsy visage. An “oopsy” and a quick “sorry” was offered to Mark for his troubles.

“Anyway, you can’t hold up anymore, Mark! Go to bed, stay healthy, and eat better! You best not be having In-and-Out everyday now that you don’t have me to watch your diet!”  
  
“Yeah, yeah. Remember to do all that for yourself too, Jacks.”  
  
“Night, Markiepooh!”  
  
“Have a great day, Jackson.”  
  
“Miss you!”

“Miss you too.”

* * *

When Bambam enters the smoothie shop near the sports centre, Jackson was surprised. The Chinese boy was currently enjoying his pre-workout/post-class healthy green concoction with Youngjae, a former classmate from last semester; he was not expecting Bambam to go here after the Thai boy once saying that the other side of the campus was too far to walk to.

The long-legged skinny boy seems to be looking around the shop, it wasn’t until Bambam’s eyes zeroed onto him that Jackson realises that the Thai boy must have gone to the shop to look for him. Youngjae bumps him with his shoulder, Jackson turns his attention to the younger boy who was sipping a pink smoothie.

“Why is Bambam here? Didn’t he swear that he’ll never walk this far off in the campus?”  
  
Jackson just offers the younger boy a shrug, not entirely sure of what spurred Bambam to go here. The Thai boy swiftly walked towards them, pointy leather shoes making harsh sounds against the tile. Jackson waits for the Thai boy to reach their table before greeting him.

“Hey Bam!”  
  
“Jackson-hyung, Youngjae-hyung,” the youngest among the trio said, all the while catching his breath. He makes Jackson and Youngjae scoot over so that he could sit down, stretching his long legs under the table as he panted slightly.  
  
“Hello Bambam! I thought we’d never see you here!,” Youngjae says jokingly, smiling sunnily that the Thai boy squinted at him.

“Bammie, did you like run here or something?” Jackson pinches said boy’s cheek, his hand was quickly swatted away. Youngjae burst out his loud laugh as he watched the interaction.

“I may or may have ran here but if I told you guys, I’d have to kill you.”

“You wouldn’t, Bammie,” the Chinese boy feigns taking offence, exaggeratedly putting his hand over his heart and gasping. Youngjae laughs more, repeatedly hitting Jackson’s shoulder.  
  
“Aish, Youngjae! I told you to stop hurting me while you laugh!”  
  
Youngjae only starts laughing more, putting up a peace sign, signalling that he’d stop his outburst of giggles in a bit. Rubbing his reddening shoulder, Jackson glares at the laughing boy and hears Bambam snickering quietly at his other side. He thinks the shove he gives to the Thai boy was well deserved.  
  
“Anyways, Bammie, why are you here?”  
  
“Oh yeah! Jackson-hyung, Yugyeom wants to meet up with you later, are you okay with that?”  
  
“Yugyeom? The tall one who picked you up last Wednesday after our last class on art appreciation?” Youngjae chimes before continuing to drink his smoothie, he was 3/4ths finished with it, “he was pretty nice.”  
  
Bambam nods in agreement but keeps his eyes on Jackson, waiting for his reply.

“I’ve got fencing until 8 today, remember?”  
  
“Ahhh, we’ve got plans by then…”  
  
“Plans, eh?”  
  
The Chinese boy attempts to tease Bambam but the Thai native just wasn’t in the mood for it, completely ignoring the way Jackson had wiggled his eyes suggestively at him. Youngjae got it though and snorted into his drink, he was already done with it so no smoothie-in-nose action occured.  
  
Bambam just frowns, in an obvious dilemma with their ever-conflicting schedules. The snorting sound seems to break his thoughts though, the Thai boy just sighs. He pulls out his phone from his too-skinny jeans and begins to text someone. Jackson assumes that the youngest is telling his boyfriend that meeting Jackson today was a no-go.

When Bambam’s texting doesn’t end as fast as Jackson thought, he begins to talk to Youngjae about classes. He learns that the music production major has a light workload this semester, finishing the general subjects for the Creative Arts college. Youngjae happens to share a night class with Bambam, who was a fashion design student, where he met Bambam’s ever elusive boyfriend. In return, he tells Youngjae about how he only has classes on Mondays to Thursday, right after his morning training until 4:30 in the afternoon with no breaks in between. Jackson complains about the fact that he has to eat lunch while rushing to his next class and Youngjae simply states that it’s the Chinese boy’s own fault for making his schedule so compact.

“Jackson-hyung, Yugyeom says next Friday is good,” Bambam announces, breaking the conversation between Jackson and Youngjae, “Of course, Youngjae-hyung is also welcome to come as well.”  
  
“I’ll think about it, Bambam. It’s kind of too late for me,” Youngjae replies. Jackson, on the other hand, think that it’s perfect; he'd be out late but he’ll have people with him so that he won’t be in any immediate danger, plus he could always ask for Bambam and Yugyeom to walk him home like that time with Jaebum.

 _Jaebum_ , shit.  
  
Jackson knew he forgot about something, his lack of acumen really cost him this time. How can someone forget about a person they’ve blatantly flirted with? If the Chinese boy wasn’t in public, he would be tearing at his hair right now, he was now trying to figure out the proper words to say to the kind stranger who walked him all the way back to his apartment late in the night.

“Erhm, Jackson-hyung? I don’t want to disturb you and your internal crisis but you still haven’t said if you were okay with hanging out on Friday after your training?”  
  
“Oh! Shit, yeah. I mean yeah, I’m good for Friday,” he replied hastily, head still thinking about what to say to Jaebum so that he can hint to him that he’s still interested in whatever they have going on but also apologise sincerely to the man.

“Great!”  
  
Bambam claps his hands together, pleased by Jackson’s agreement. Since Jackson doesn’t seem to be interested in talking, Bambam and Youngjae begin to converse about their shared class. The two speaking about assignments, lectures, and projects. Meanwhile, the oldest of the three is still heavily lost in his thoughts. Jackson figures the best way to handle the situation with Jaebum is to just face it head on, he’ll deal with the consequences later. He’s abruptly startled from his thoughts by Youngjae shaking him by his shoulder.  
  
“Hyung! Your training starts at six, right? You have twenty minutes to get to the centre!”  
  
“Ah! Thank you, Youngjae-ah! I gotta’ run there now!”  
  
Jackson makes the sunshine incarnate of a boy move so he can squeeze himself out of their table. He gives both Bambam and Youngjae affectionate hugs each, grabs his duffel from underneath the table, and turns to make his leave.  
  
As the fencer slow jogs to the centre (better warm-up in case he’s late), he brings out his phone to send a quick text to Jaebum. He’s going to do this, if the older man doesn’t want to meet up with him anymore then it’s his lost—Jackson tells himself like a mantra. He finds it weird how attached he feels to Jaebum when they’ve literally only hung out for a few hours. The Chinese boy sighs and braces himself for whatever response he’ll get, he fires off a text:

* * *

 

Jaebum’s reply came in the middle of Jackson’s practise, during a particularly tough match against one of his teammates. The Chinese boy hears the beep and botches a lunge, letting his opponent successfully counterattack. His coach shouts from the sideline.

“Wang! What are you doing? Focus!”  
  
This makes Jackson turn to his teammate with newly invigorated determination. He resolves that whoever texted him can wait, right now, he needs to show his team that he hasn’t gone soft just because he stopped training with them at night.

After he beats everyone who lined up to spar with him and receives a “good job, Wang. Don’t drop focus ever again” from his coach and Jackson just goes straight to rummaging his duffel for his phone. The wretched device beeped an excruciating three times during his matches and he almost, the keyword being _almost_ , waltzed off piste to check it. When he finds the phone, Jackson glares at it when he sees that one message was from Bambam, another from Jinyoung, and one from the man he wished sent all three. He sighs and checks his friends’ messages first so he’d have more time to mentally prepare himself for Jaebum’s possible rejection.

 

Jackson quickly shoots off a reply to Bambam, telling him that he won’t forget but hesitates to send one to Jinyoung. The library was on the other side of the campus, closer to where their apartment is so he doesn’t want to burden his roommate by making him walk all the way to the sports centre. Maybe the Chinese boy would have better luck this time and won’t have any strange encounters walking home? He heads to the shower room where most of his teammates are, some were still in the hall doing punishment exercises for losing too many practise matches.

As the Chinese boy showers, he ponders about the time he’ll inevitably have to read Jaebum’s response. Jackson Wang is not scared of not being liked by someone, he tells himself. After all, if someone dismisses his charms then it’s their fault for not seeing how amazing he is. Jackson sighs, knowing that no matter how he tries to soften the blow, it’ll still be a blow. He sullenly exits the shower area and changes into another pair of sweatpants and a too-baggy black shirt. Examining his reflection on the mirror, Jackson thinks that he can head to a club tomorrow with Bambam again, he’ll just have to forego the drinks on the account of last time and also because it’s already training season. He really just needs a good time after _everything_ (including Jaebum’s predicted refusal of his advances). When the fencer finally checks his phone, he gapes.

 

Thanking whoever it is looking out for him, Jackson types a reply so fast that one of teammates, Jooheon, shrugs at him. The Chinese boy doesn’t care what the other fencer thinks though. He sticks his tongue out at Jooheon who just laughs and bids him goodbye. Jackson returns the farewell and tells Jooheon to stay safe. Jaebum answers him within this exchange. He thanks his lucky stars because he doesn’t get this fortunate most of the time, contrary to popular belief. He answers Jaebum and is pleasantly surprised by this turn of events. Moreover, he finally sends Jinyoung a text stating that he won’t need to be picked up, he’s got that covered; Jackson grins.

Jaebum waves to him as soon as he gets out of the centre. He notices that the older man was wearing black ripped jeans, a white shirt, and an unzipped oversized black hoodie, Jackson notes that it’s a good look on Jaebum. But then again, the Chinese boy might be more or less a little bit biased. Sue him. He half sprints to Jaebum who was smiling softly at him, as if it wasn’t only their second time meeting, more like they’ve been doing this forever.

“Hi hyung!”  
  
Jackson stops in front of Jaebum and fidgets a little, not exactly knowing what’s okay for Jaebum or not; if Jackson was free to do anything though, he’d at least give the other man a hug. And as if reading Jackson’s mind, Jaebum puts an arm around his neck and pulls him in for a (awkward) half-hug which ends as quickly as it happened. The Chinese boy appreciates the gesture anyway and beams at Jaebum, expressing that the hug was greatly welcomed.

“Hey Jackson,” Jaebum smiles fondly at him and proceeds to ruffle Jackson’s brown hair.  
  
“Ah! You shouldn’t touch it, it’s gross from my shower,” he tries to grab Jaebum’s hand to lead it away from his still-drying hair but the other man just messes up his hair even more.

“Jaebum-hyung,” Jackson pouts.

The chuckle that comes from Jaebum was nice to hear so Jackson couldn’t help but start smiling. It was also nice to be with Jaebum again despite circumstances. He also notes that he did not hear any strange giggling or strange figures, Jackson breathes a sigh of relief.

“Sooo, hyung, where do you want me to buy you coffee? My budget is pretty good so anywhere but the super high-end places!”  
  
Jaebum seems to consider his options, he stands quite placidly beside Jackson who was looking at him like a puppy waiting for their owner to give a command. The older man sneaks a hand around Jackson’s waist and starts walking them onto the pavement. Jackson just not-so-subtly cuddles up to Jaebum’s side, enjoying the closeness since he’s always been a tactile person, he just worries about stepping on other people’s personal boundaries.

“Where are we going, hyung?”  
  
They were walking the opposite direction of where Jackson’s apartment was so he’s kind of shaken. He trusts Jaebum because of some alien connection but at the same time, they barely know each other. Jackson has reasons to fret. Jaebum rubs soothing circles on his side and the younger boy can’t help but melt under those ministrations.

“There’s a coffee shop over there,” Jaebum points with his other hand.  
  
In the distance, there was a glowing red sign with a picture of a coffee bean. Jackson squints to look at it and recognises that it was the coffee shop that Jinyoung liked to frequent but Jackson rarely went to since he doesn’t drink coffee much; he’s more of a tea kind of guy.  
  
As soon as they enter, Jaebum leads them to the counter and rattles off his order, obviously used to being at the establishment. Jackson takes this time to look at the other man’s profile, his sharp jawline and high nose bridge. It was when the Chinese boy was observing Jaebum’s plush pinkish-plum lips that he caught a glimpse of sharp canines. Jackson blinks, he thinks that have just seen it wrong since he’s not wearing his glasses or maybe Jaebum’s like Mark who has shark teeth. Jaebum breaks his musings by softly squeezing his side, he turns to Jaebum who signals to the cashier with his head. Jackson laughs at himself for getting caught staring although Jaebum didn’t seem to mind.

Once Jackson had paid for the other’s drink, the pair sits down at a table near the back, hidden from the huge shop window where you can see outside. Jackson prefers to sit on the tables near those kind of windows, he enjoys people watching but it was Jaebum who had chosen the spot. He doesn’t complain though. Being with Jaebum was a great compensation on its own.

“What have you been up to, Jackson?”  
  
Jaebum asks while taking a sip of the black americano he had gotten. It was hot but Jaebum didn’t seem to care about its temperature. Maybe the older man had asked for it at kid temperature? He notices that Jaebum is still expecting him to respond so he does.

“Nothing much! It’s just that classes started and I’m super swamped. Also switched training schedules because uhhh, I may have a little situation at hand,” Jackson twiddles his thumbs, a nervous habit. Jaebum’s eyes widen for a second before the same quietly interested expression smooths over his face.

“What situation?”  
  
“Ah! Hyung, it’s nothing really! It’s just that I may or may not have a stalker, err, stalkers(?) who are following me around at night so my roommate’s been wanting me to go home during the daylight,” he shrugs.  
  
“I see..do you—have you seen them?”

“No, not really but my roommate said I might’ve met them at this nightclub I went to last week but I can’t really remember if I had,” Jackson says, skipping over details such as the fact that he apparently fainted there. The sentence makes Jaebum hurriedly drink his coffee, Jackson quirks an eyebrow in question, the older man waves him off.

“Anything else?”  
  
“Well, my roomie mentioned that he saw someone looking at our window from the street but I haven’t seen anything so I can’t comment on that. But uhm, on the night I first met you, I kind of heard this high pitched laugh so I ran and while I was running, I sort of saw super pale skin and black cloth or something,” the Chinese boy states, scratching the back of his head.

“Jackson, I just remembered that I’ve got something to do,” Jaebum abruptly stands, his coffee cup was already empty. Jackson tries his best not to look like a kicked puppy because the other man didn’t really promise to hang out with him.

“I’ll take you home first, come on,” the other man hauls Jackson to his feet by pulling on his arm. He delightedly spots Jaebum’s arm making its way around his waist and leans on the older man’s side.

They walk in companionable silence on the way to Jackson’s building, tightly alongside one another. Jackson can’t help but notice the way Jaebum keeps scanning their surroundings as if he’s expecting something to pop up. He elbows Jaebum a few times so that the other would pay more attention to him.

When they reached the humble steps of Jackson’s apartment building, he reluctantly leaves Jaebum’s side. The man just smiles at him warmly, making butterflies flutter in Jackson’s stomach. He figures that Jaebum’s okay with physical contact so he pulls the other into a long embrace. Jackson wraps his arms around Jaebum’s chest while the other’s arms shroud his waist. The jacket that the other man wore smells like red wine and smoke, Jackson distinguishes the scents when he buried his nose on the cloth for a brief moment. Pulling apart was inexplicably difficult but Jackson knew he had to, his phone was vibrating like crazy with what was probably a thousand concerned texts from Jinyoung. He holds Jaebum in arms length and smiles up at him, enjoying the way the other man’s soft gaze lands on him.

“So hyung, we should really do this sometime again.”  
  
“Sure, Jackson-ah,” Jaebum moves their hands so that they were holding one another, the older man’s thumbs brushing random patterns on Jackson’s hands.

“You should treat me next time,” he grins cheekily at Jaebum. The other man pretends to be considering it before breaking out a fond smile, a smile that Jackson’s slowly getting used to.

“Of course,” Jaebum squeezes the Chinese boy’s hand before letting go. Jackson looks at him expectantly.  
  
“Go up now, Jackson-ah. I have to go somewhere. Text me when you get up safely, I’ll wait here for a while.”  
  
“You’re too nice, hyung! But do you really have to go somewhere this late?”  
  
“Unfortunately so.”

The grim look on Jaebum’s face twisted something in Jackson’s stomach and unlike the earlier butterflies, this felt more like a tightly coiled venomous snake waiting for the next victim it can attack.

 


	3. Sleeping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!! It's been two weeks or even a little over that. Been a bit busy lately but don't worry, I haven't stopped writing this story! I'd also like to apologise in advance if this chapter is a bit...uneventful since it's a bit of a filler chapter but certain things do happen so yeaaaah.
> 
> Enjoy it anyway! Plus thank you for all the comments :D It really motivates me to keep at it.

He was aware that he was drowning.  
  
The real question was, why was he drowning in the first place? Jackson feels the liquid around his body making him sink indefinitely. A burning sensation in his chest suggests that he’d been underwater for a while, he opens his eyes and sees red. Not a diluted red but a thick red that stubbornly clings to him, weighing him downwards as he struggles to swim up.

He remembers the excruciating summers when his father pushes him into the pool back at their house in Hong Kong, Jackson’s survival instincts constantly being tested just so he’d learn how to swim. Unfortunately, those lessons don’t seem to help him now as the Chinese boy helplessly gets pulled into the unknown. He holds his breath although his lungs beg him to inhale.  
  
Jackson screams in frustration despite knowing no sound would come out, the red liquid invades his mouth. A pungent taste stains his insides, it forces its way down his throat during his silent outcry. He recognises this taste, it’s the same as that one time he got into a fist fight with someone who had insulted him for his sexuality back in high school, Jackson knew he was never going to forget the coppery tinge of the blood that dripped from his busted lip. A visceral fear runs through him, questions race through his head.

 _Why am I drowning in blood?_  
  
_Why am I even here?_  
  
_Why can’t I swim up?_  
  
He inhales, the blood rushes through his nose, clogging it, trapping the smell of a metallic poignant scent there. Jackson tries to kick up even more, swings his arms in wider strokes but he can’t seem to rise from where he is; constantly sinking as he futilely tries to save himself. He curses whatever put him there and screams again as he feels his lungs give in. The boy’s arms stop, his legs come to a halt, he closes his eyes and accepts his demise.

“Jackson! Oh my god, Jackson!”  
  
He opens his eyes to Jinyoung’s face scrunched up, worry marring his usually calm visage. Jackson wonders if the younger boy had saved him from the pool of blood he was drowning in until his fingers brush through the comforting texture of his blanket and he sees the glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling behind his roommate’s hovering figure. He was on his own bed. This was his own room. The wetness on his body was just a cold sweat and the slightly unpleasant smell was probably his sweaty socks discarded somewhere. He blinks at Jinyoung who’s clutching him by the shoulders, the younger boy had seemingly shook him awake.

“Oh god, you scared me. You just started screaming,” Jinyoung sighs, releasing his grip on the still confused Chinese boy.

Jackson tries to speak but all that comes out is a pitiful croak. The Korean boy fusses over him and helps him sits up on the bed. He tries not to get grossed out by how sweaty he is. Jinyoung tell him that he’ll get the older boy some water, also unspokenly giving Jackson time to get himself together.

He hasn’t had a nightmare in years. Jackson looks down on his own shaking fingers, takes a deep breath, and tries to mentally compose himself. He inspects his surroundings, Jackson glances at his bedside alarm clock that shows it was currently 02:36. He huffs, why did he even have this dream? Maybe it’s because of all the stress he’s been in? The fact that he’s the best fencer in the university and has to perform well puts tremendous pressure on him. Aside from that, he needs to keep his grades up to maintain his scholarship. Furthermore, the weird things that’s been occurring to him lately don’t help at all. Then there’s Jaebum.  
  
Gorgeous Jaebum with his annoyingly attractive twin moles and chiseled jawline. The older man’s eyes that remind Jackson of a sly cat’s, he finds it adorable. There’s also Jaebum’s unexpected approachability despite that the Korean appears to be chic and stoice. Jackson remembers Jaebum’s kindness, taking him home although it was only their first meeting. Jaebum was definitely climbing up (pretty fast to boot) in the Chinese boy’s list of favourite people.

Just as he’s reminiscing about yesterday night when Jaebum had picked him up and they had hung out together, his roommate returns to his side with a glass of water. Jinyoung helps him down the whole glass, holding it for Jackson as the Chinese boy’s hands were still trembling. Jackson feels better after the drink.

“You want to talk about it?”  
  
Jinyoung asks, laying a grounding hand on Jackson’s shoulder. However, the older boy really doesn’t want to talk about it, he doesn’t know if he’ll ever talk about it with someone but as of now, it’s a no. So he shakes his head and the younger boy simply nods in understanding. They stay sitting next to one another on Jackson’s bed for a few minutes, relaxing in one another’s presence. Eventually, Jinyoung tells Jackson to get some sleep and leaves him alone.  
  
Jackson only falls asleep when his alarm sounds at 07:30 for his regular Saturday morning jog. He sloppily deals with the clock, stopping the insistent beeping, and succumbing to the sleep that he desperately needed. He hopes he won’t have another nightmare.

* * *

 

He wakes up feeling sombre, the Chinese boy thinks it’s because of the dream he had. Jackson hesitantly gets out of his own bed, a wave of apprehension racks through his whole body and he doesn’t know why. Either this is a premonition that today was not going to be his day or his body is still rattled from his imagined drowning. Jackson physically shakes himself, trying to conjure the mental fortitude that he’s honed through several years of competitive fencing. He’s glad that it seems to alleviate some of the jitters.

Jackson guesses that taking a shower would make him feel better so he sets out some clothes for him to change into afterwards, he catches a glimpse of his phone with new unread messages on it. Instead of reading them immediately though, Jackson goes straight for the shower. He needs to get himself together before he talks to anyone, whether virtually or in-person.

The shower fortunately lifts his spirits however, Jackson, at one point, sees red water coming down from the showerhead. He doesn’t scream this time because he knows it’s not real. He does scrub harder on his skin, trying to remove invisible specks of blood staining it. He stays under spray for longer than usual, willing himself to get over the nightmare. It was just a dream afterall. So why is there still a looming aura of dread over him?

Once out of the shower, dressed in a pair of loose denim jeans and a cozy oversized sweater, Jackson checks his phone for the messages he purposely ignored earlier. His screen displayed that he had three: one from Amber, the manager of the cafe nearby who he befriended; another from Mark; and lastly, one from Im Jaebum. He raises an eyebrow as he taps open each one, starting from the one he received the latest.

Amber’s message drastically lightens his mood. The older woman has always been kind and the two of them share a playful friendship similar to siblings’. The concern that Amber has for him makes him feel all soft, Jackson sends her back a message about feeling better now and dropping by for lunch. Then onto the next message, Mark’s.

Mark’s concern, unlike Amber’s, was expected. The older man had always been the one to metaphorically (and sometimes figuratively) tend to Jackson’s wounds whenever he has a bad fall or anything. Just like what Jackson does for Mark. They’re best friends and although they decided to go separate ways, it doesn’t change the fact that they’ll always have one another’s back. Jackson types in a message about being okay now and that he wants to call Mark on Sunday morning (Mark’s time) to talk to him about. After all, if there’s anyone that Jackson would trust with anything, it’ll be Mark hands down.

The last message catches him by surprise. Firstly because of the time it was sent, around 2AM in the morning where only night shift workers, insomniacs, or people out there having a good time were awake. Jackson snickers, imagining Jaebum out that late, getting high or drunk, and accidentally texting him some embarrassing message. Part of him wishes it was exactly that because it’d be hilarious. Another part of him wishes it was something else entirely.

He rapidly replies before he could over-think his response. Jackson did surmise that the best approach to this is to go in headfirst and worry about possible repercussions at the later date. He snorts to himself.

Jackson stares at his screen for a while, waiting for a reply from the older man. When a few minutes pass by and he starts feeling like an idiot, Jackson stuffs his phone into his back pocket and heads to the kitchen to grab a granola bar. He’ll eat a fuller meal at Amber’s later. He tries not to fret about Jaebum’s lack of feedback towards his almost blatantly flirtatious text. Maybe the other man was at work? Or busy? Come to think of it, Jackson doesn’t know much about Jaebum. He slowly ponders upon ways to remedy that.

* * *

 

“I don’t get it, Jacks. If you like him, why not ask him out?”  
  
“No! You don’t understand, Amber. I barely know him but I super like him, it’s insane. I’ve never crushed on someone this hard before, let alone an almost complete stranger!”  
  
“You’re dumb! That’s why there’s dating, you can get to know each other while doing _stuff_ ,” Amber wiggles her eyebrows suggestively, making Jackson choke on the cup of tea he was drinking.

He contemplates slapping her but the other patrons of the cafe would probably think he’s a rude ass boy and Jackson doesn’t want that. He goes back to twirling the pasta from the carbonara that Amber gave him (for free!). Thinking about dating, Jackson realises he hasn’t been in a relationship since high school. The memory of the girl who cheated on him left a too bitter aftertaste in his heart that he actively avoided commitment and stuck to no strings attached type of deals. He can’t say he regrets it though. He’s had his fun but maybe it was about time to put himself out there again?

“So, should I just ask him out? Like straight up ask him if he wants to go out with me? But oh shit, Amber, what if he’s not into guys and he was just being nice?”

“Oh my god, Jackson. I don’t know if you’re dense or pathetic but a guy won’t randomly walk you home at 8pm when he could be elsewhere just because he wants to be friends. The fact that you two practically cuddled while walking is another factor. To be honest, I feel like he’s just waiting for you to _invite_ him up to your apartment,” Amber does the eyebrow thing again, all the while wagging a finger right in front of Jackson’s face.

Jackson pushes the annoying appendage out of his sight, making a sour face at Amber for lowkey insulting him. He takes a bite of the carbonara and sings praises to the cook in his head, the food at Amber’s cafe was the best.

“But seriously, ask him out. He seems like a decent guy from what you’ve said and maybe having an actual boyfriend could scare off that stalker of yours. Two birds with one stone! You’ll be happy and safe,” Amber reasons as she takes a sip of her caramel macchiato, Jackson can smell the strong aroma of coffee from where he’s sat opposite to her.

“Also, don’t forget the fact that you’re thinking about him 24/7. That’s some serious pinning, Jackson. You need your head clear for when your tournaments start and your finals roll around,” the cafe manager states as she sets her cup down and smiles softly at the younger boy. He couldn’t help but agree with Amber in his head. Jackson doesn’t voice it out though, too uncertain to verbally assent to her.

He sighs, he remembers how Jaebum hasn’t answered his message yet. He feels snubbed. Beyond snubbed. What bothers Jackson more is that Jaebum was the one who reached out to him in the first place and is now ignoring him. He shakes the thoughts away, he’s being too presumptuous; Jaebum hasn’t promised him anything, for all Jackson knew, that could’ve been a message for someone else. He feels like an idiot.

“Jacks, stop thinking too hard, it’s not a good look on you,” the older woman playfully flicks his forehead, snapping Jackson back to the present.

“What if he was supposed to send that message to someone else and I fucked up by replying something so obvious? Shit…”  
  
“Holy—Jacks, doubt is definitely a worse look on you. Keep your head up! Maybe he’s busy working or something, give him time.”  
  
Jackson lets Amber’s words comfort him although the underlying ambiguity of this _thing_ with Jaebum makes him jittery. Thankfully, the cafe manager seems to have detected Jackson’s hesitance with the topic and switched to talking about the cute girl who keeps coming in during the morning lulls. Jackson listens and enjoys watching Amber animatedly describe how she had started up a conversation with said cute girl. The rest of his lunch is spent chatting rapidly with Amber, a contentedness filling his gut. He hasn’t felt this settled since his nightmare. Jackson shudders at the memory.

* * *

 

The gym was a solace for Jackson. Since his morning run was impromptu cancelled, he heads to the on-campus gym that’s reserved for the student-athletes. Jackson has a quick conversation with Namjoon, a basketball player, that he’s close with. The taller man was done with his workout, right about to leave the facility when Jackson came in. After they part, he beelines for the treadmill, puts on his earbuds, and runs to clear his head.

He decidedly doesn’t think about Jaebum and tries his best to avoid drifting into thoughts of the dream where he drowns in blood. However, he can’t help but pondering about his nightmare. It was definitely terrifying, the imagery of sinking into a red abyss. The way his lungs actually felt like they were constricting, breath held indefinitely, and his limbs futilely struggling against the liquid heaviness. He shudders as he increases the pace of his run.

Once he feels all runned out, he transitions to the weightlifting section to do some strength training. Jackson does some leg presses, pull downs, and eventually a few bicep curls. He tries not to overdo it since he practically trains everyday with fencing and all. When he deems himself sufficiently worked out, Jackson heads to the locker room and finds his phone empty of new messages except for the daily message he receives from his mother. He smiles at her well wishes and her updates concerning life back in Hong Kong. Jackson makes it a note to call her soon.

However, he scoffs at himself for waiting, for being so hooked onto a person he’s met twice. Jackson thinks it’s just because he hasn’t gotten any in a while since there was a big fencing meet during the break and the day he was supposed to have fun, he can’t remember. Maybe it’s time to have good time again?

He dials Bambam’s number, his constant companion during these type of escapades. The younger boy answers on the fourth ring, Jackson speaks before he can change his mind.

“Hi hyung!”

“Do you want to head to a club later today?”  
  
“What, hyung? After what happened to you last time? Really?”  
  
“Yeah, Bam. I can’t live without having any fun, it’s been a week,” he shrugs although the Thai native can’t see him through the call.

“Exactly, hyung! It’s been a week since that happened. I’m a lil’ worried, s’all.”  
  
Jackson can hear the hesitance in Bambam’s response. He really doesn’t want to push the other to do something he’s not up to. The whole nightout business can happen next time, he supposes; Bambam did have a good reason to back out. Also, he really doesn’t want to go alone after last week’s incident. He audibly sighs.  
  
“Awww! Jackson-hyung, don’t be sad! We can go next Saturday if you’re still up to it. Yuggie would probably want to come as well and it should be cool since you two would meet on Friday anyway,” Bambam reassures him, probably hearing the displeased exhale.

“It’s okay, Bammie. I’m just a bit on edge and felt like having some fun, y’know? I’ll prolly’ be glad I haven’t gone out later on,” he slurs his words, feeling a tad despondent that his supposed evening plans were a no-go.

“Alright, hyung. I’m up for it next week though. Don’t forget about Friday!”  
  
“Yeah! I won’t forget about being your third wheel, sheesh.”  
  
“It won’t be third wheeling if you bring a date, hyung~!”  
  
He hates how he can imagine Bambam winking at him, the younger boy has been pushing him to date since Bambam found out about his cheating ex. The exact words that Bambam told him before were: _the best way to get over an ex is to date someone who’ll totally sweep you off your feet_ and then the Thai boy had gone on a tirade about his wonderful boyfriend, Yugyeom. Ever since then, Bambam had taken to sporadically pushing him to date someone.

“Ugh, whatever, sure. Go be sickeningly sweet with your boyfriend! Bye Bammie!”  
  
“Bye Jackson-hyung!”  
  
The sigh he gives echoes throughout the locker room. Jackson stares at his phone for a beat before stuffing it into his locker. He frowns at nothing in particular, the lack of evening plans seemingly a waste of a good weekend. Maybe he’ll just buy an extravagant dinner to share with Jinyoung at home when he gets back. He checks the time, it’s only around three-thirty.

* * *

 

After taking an uneventful forty-minute walk to Jinyoung’s favourite restaurant, Jackson finds himself in front of the counter ordering the usual feast that him and Jinyoung like: some chicken, hamburgers, and a pizza full of meat. He knows he’s breaking his diet but the big competitions are still months away and by then, Jackson would be at his fittest (he swears).

He’s carrying a large box of pizza on one arm and another paper bag with the rest of his purchase, his duffel casually slung across his torso, when his phone rings. Jackson curses his luck because it’s not a simple beep telling him it’s a message but it's the embarrassing call ringtone of him and Youngjae singing some random karaoke song. He manoeuvres the paper bag to his other arm and quickly digs his phone from his pocket, he answers the call before _his ringtone-self_ could belt the next note.

“Hello?”  
  
“Jackson-ah.”  
  
That voice, he knows that deep voice with sort of wispy undertones. Jackson gulps and hopes that the sound didn’t get caught by the receiver.

“Jaebum-hyung?”

He tries not to physically cringe at the meek manner he spoke in. Jackson wills himself to move, walking to his apartment with food in hand, phone in the other.

“Sorry if I ignored you the whole day, I was _busy_ ,” Jaebum offers the apology without prompting.

“No, it’s okay,” Jackson would’ve added an _it’s not like I was waiting for you to reply anyway_ but he’s not a liar. Even if the man calling him doesn’t know he’s been constantly checking his phone throughout the day.

“Are you still free?”  
  
The hopeful lilt in Jaebum’s voice comes loud and clear across the phone and the Chinese boy feels the butterflies in his stomach make a resurgence. He hushes them down by increasing the pace of his walk.

“Uh, I was but then I kinda made plans with my roommate,” he chews on his lip, Jackson really wants to spend more time with the other man, he tries to analyse the situation and decides on a solution, “but! But you can come with if you want, it’s just a big dinner, is all. I bought more than enough for me and my roomie.”

There was a beat of silence and Jackson thinks he may have screwed up.

“Okay, dinner’s good. Can I show up around 6?”  
  
He pulls his phone away from his ear so that he can check the time, the top of his screen read four-twenty-seven. Jackson has a lot of time to convince Jinyoung that it would be fine to invite a new friend over for dinner and nothing more.

“Yeah, sure, 6 is fine. 6 is great! I can pick you up in front of the building, just text me when you get there.”  
  
“Alright. What are you guys having for dinner anyway?”  
  
“Hmmm..some burgers, pizza, and chicken. You allergic to any of those?”  
  
Jaebum chuckles, probably because of the obvious concern in Jackson’s voice. He never really thought about the possibility of the other man being allergic to any of the food he’s bought. He doesn’t want to be a bad host.

“No, the food’s fine.”  
  
He can imagine the smile that Jaebum might be wearing right now. The soft slightly lopsided smile that makes him feel so adored. Jackson smiles as well, his steps perkier than they were before.

“So I’ll see you, hyung?”  
  
“See you, Jackson.”  
  
The call ends. Jaebum’s last words to him sends an odd tingle down his spine and a weird sense of _this has happened before_ washes over him. However, his smile doesn’t dim and his steps don’t falter. He’s excited for this night and nothing can get in his way. Not even that stupid nightmare.

* * *

 

Jackson’s spontaneous plans don’t go the way he wanted to. First off, when he gets home, Jinyoung was bolting out the door with a haphazardly packed suitcase. The younger boy sees him and clutches him by the biceps.  
  
“Jackson, I have to go for about three to four days. My mum’s sick, I’m sorry. Take care of yourself.”  
  
He was enveloped in a tight hug then Jinyoung was gone, probably speeding back to Jinhae where his mother is. Jackson couldn’t even sneak in a goodbye of his own or hug the younger boy back, Jinyoung just left so fast. He chews on his lower lip as he stares at the corner where he last saw his roommate rushing through.

Now here arises his second dilemma, how is he going to get Jinyoung’s permission to invite somebody up to their place when said boy is gone? He could always send a text but he can already see the plain _no_ reply. Jackson knows he’s not a liar but what Jinyoung doesn’t know won’t hurt him? Besides, Jaebum technically isn’t a stranger, he’s a _friend_.

However, his roommate’s insistence that he has someone staking him out makes him feel uncomfortable. Maybe he should call it off? He really wants to get to know Jaebum more though and it would seem rude to cancel plans that he, himself, had initiated. Jackson figures that there’s no point in going back now.

Jackson sets the food on the kitchenette counter and even brings out some plates with utensils. There was no use on mulling over it now, the food would go to waste if he doesn’t eat it with anyone and Jaebum’s probably on his way from wherever he’s from. He inspects the rest of their apartment and is struck with gratefulness for Jinyoung’s nagging to clean all the time. However, he still fixes up some small messes here and there, just in case.

His eyes find the wallclock to see that it’s quarter to six. He figures that he can afford a quick change of clothes so that he’s not in his post-workout digs. The Chinese boy changes into a nice pair of denim jeans with rips at the knee and a black shirt from the brand he really likes. He doesn’t want to overdress but also doesn’t want to look too _relaxed_ either.

The wait for Jaebum’s text gets him a little on edge, Jackson doesn’t want to stare at the time like some pre-teen waiting for their date to pick them up so he spams Bambam with funny messages and random spiels. When the Thai boy replies that he’s going out to dinner (probably with his boyfriend) and doesn’t want to be disturbed, Jackson pouts at the screen as if it’ll change anything. He sighs, he may be a bit overbearing at times but he tries his best not to annoy people...much.

A beep from his phone shocks him out of his reverie. It was the message he was waiting for.

He tries not to run down the stairs (that would only end in tragedy) but he did go down them faster than his usual easygoing pace. Jackson chides himself for acting so giddy at just the prospect of seeing Jaebum. As soon as he steps out of his building, he sees Jaebum standing under a nearby tree. The other man was facing the road so Jackson decides to have a little fun and sneak up on him.

Jackson mutes his steps, taking it slow until he reached his destination which was right behind Jaebum’s back. He was about to scream at the other man, hands raised to frighten him, when Jaebum smoothly turns around, a soft “boo” to Jackson’s face which makes the younger boy jolt. A smirk forms on the older man’s visage at Jackson’s reaction. The Chinese native inevitably pouts that his attempt was foiled _and_ used against him. Even though what Jaebum did was _cute_ , Jackson thinks he has the right to be sour about it.  
  
“You knew I was coming from a mile away,” Jackson states, he didn’t whine, he swears.

“I was feeling a little indulgent,” Jaebum answers while placing a hand over the younger boy’s nape, the older man squeezes there for second before simply resting his hand there.

“Fooled me,” the Chinese boy turns around, making Jaebum’s hand slip from its perch. He walks towards the building, willing his heartbeat to calm down. He realises that Jaebum hadn’t followed him. Jackson looks back, the older man was still watching him from where he stood under the tree; Jaebum wore a comfortable-looking black jacket, a plain white shirt, and a pair of light denim ripped jeans. He was so chic, Jackson had to roll his eyes.

“So, are you just going to stand there and wait?”

“Hmm.”  
  
“Do you need a written invitation?”  
  
“Preferably but a verbal one would do,” Jaebum quips, his smirk getting a bit more smug.

Jackson takes it as a challenge and walks briskly back to where the older man stood. He locks one arm around Jaebum’s left and bodily pulls him towards the door. He determinedly does not look at the white-shirted man’s expression, knowing that it’ll be even more complacent. What Jackson does take account of is how oddly comforting it was to be at Jaebum’s side and how his fresh pine scent calms the Chinese boy.

The both of them make their way to Jackson’s apartment like that, tightly locked together. The only time they break apart is when Jackson had to open the door. He gestures for Jaebum to enter and the older man does, albeit timidly.

“I forgot to tell you but my roommate had to leave town all of a sudden so it’s just you and me for now.”  
  
When the words fly out of his mouth, Jackson curses at himself because 1.) that definitely sounded like a _come on_ , 2.) yes, he wants to get in Jaebum’s pants but he wants to do it with more finesse because he wants to do it more than just once, and 3.) the way the older man’s eyes widen when he said that is probably not a good sign.

“So! Let’s just like, uh, watch dinner and eat the tv—fuck, I mean, eat dinner and watch some tv,” he fidgets and practically sprints to the kitchen counter to get some food.

He was sloppily placing a second pizza slice onto his plate when he feels a presence at his side. Jackson glances to his right and sees Jaebum, the older man had discarded his jacket. The Chinese boy was about to ask where did it go when Jaebum cups one of his cheeks and pulls him towards him. Jackson knows where this is going but he doesn’t do anything to stop it, he closes his eyes and waits for the soft press of lips on his.

It never comes.

Instead, he feels soft pecks to his eyelids and another one to his nose. Jackson opens his eyes and gives Jaebum a questioning look. Meanwhile, the older man’s arm had sneaked its way around Jackson’s waist, a finger randomly drawing patterns on Jackson’s side.

“You need to relax more,” Jaebum says with the slightly tilted smile that the younger boy is developing a strong liking to.  
  
Jackson catches a peek of surprisingly sharp teeth when the other man spoke, he shudders when he imagines them on his neck. He mentally slaps himself for being so weird. He leans into Jaebum’s torso (since the taller man doesn’t seem to mind) and nuzzles into the other’s shirt, breathing in fresh pine and sandalwood. He wonders where Jaebum lives and why he smells so nature-y as he pulls away.  
  
“Okay. So let’s eat?”  
  
Jaebum’s answering smile, a curve of lips with more intent than his signature lopsided one, sends a shiver down his spine.

What kind of shiver? Jackson isn’t sure of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE: I edited this part :P
> 
> Hey! So this is a bit of a filler chapter but I promise that chapter 4 is going to speed things up a bit. :)
> 
> Before that one goes up though, I'd like to explain what type of vampires I'm going for. I was inspired by different sources like classic vampire lore, random internet sites, and even Twilight (lmao). So with all of that in mind, the basis of my vampire characters is mostly classic vampire stuff wherein they die under sunlight and stakes through their heart etc. They'll have a system where there are Purebloods, Changed Ones, and even "Rabid" ones. Plus factions and the like. Plus I like the idea that some vampires can hypnotise people (but it's exceedingly rare), this is inspired by the Darren Shan's take on vampires. What I got from Twilight is that they've already blended in with society and live a bit lavishly due to fortunes collected through the years.
> 
> Anyway, hope you stay tuned to what's in store!


	4. Biting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! I took longer than expected but don't worry, I don't plan to abandon this fic :) This one's a bit shorter than the others but yeah. 
> 
> To all those who read this fic, left kudoes, bookmarked, and even commented---thank you so much! :D 
> 
> Also, happy birthday Jinyoung and Nayeon :D

After he eats two pizza slices, a burger, and probably three chicken wings, Jackson sprawls on the couch where both he and Jaebum had ate. A satisfied smile crawls onto his face as he side-eyes Jaebum who was eating his food at a slower pace.

The television in front them was playing some drama that Jackson can’t remember but has caught Jinyoung watching from time to time. Throughout the meal, the pair had engaged in conversation. Jackson regales Jaebum with his day (sans nightmare) while Jaebum fills the younger boy in with what he does in the morning. Apparently, the older man is some lucky guy who happens to be living off an inheritance while he’s trying to figure out what to do in the future. It doesn’t explain Jaebum’s apparent insomnia but he just shrugs it off.

“Not that fond of pizza?”

“I like Korean food better,” Jaebum answers, setting his plate down on the wooden coffee table that his roommate had managed to get at some vintage thrift shop.

“Well, next time, we can have samgyupsal but you really have to treat me this time!”

Jackson exclaims, a mischievous smile playing on his features. He teases the other man by bumping their shoulders together and quite boldly poking Jaebum’s cheek. The older man turns while quickly grabbing Jackson’s wrist. It wasn’t a strong grip but it was enough to stop Jackson from doing it again.

“Awww, hyung, I was just teasing!”

He tries to hide how nervous he feels. Jackson thinks he may have gone out of bounds but it just felt appropriate that time. A raised eyebrow is all he gets in response, Jaebum’s hand a calm but steady clamp on his arm. The Chinese boy was about to spout another jittery line when Jaebum smiles at him sweetly. His wrist was suddenly free.

“I was just fooling around, Jackson-ah.”

“You’re so mean, Jaebum-hyung.”

The younger boy leans on Jaebum who has gone back to picking at his food. He watches as Jaebum gingerly takes a bite at a burger while absentmindedly watching the drama. Jackson was so intent at looking at Jaebum that when the older man tilts his head to look at him, they were just staring at one another. He remembers the scenario when something like this happened so Jackson cocks his head to the side and smiles at Jaebum, challenging him to do something about it.

Jaebum breaks their eye contact to set his burger on its plate atop the coffee table. The Chinese boy tries not to sulk at the other man’s inaction. However, he’s suddenly caught off guard when a (non-greasy) hand cups his cheek, gently guiding his head to face Jaebum again.

“Can I kiss you?”

The question makes him close his eyes and breathe heavily. He knows that he may have shuddered as well but Jackson has to save face here. He’s not inexperienced, he can do this. Instead of answering verbally, he surges forward to seal their lips together. He doesn’t know what’s okay and what’s not so he keeps the kiss PG, a mere press of lips moving together. The hand on his cheek moves to the back of his neck, making Jackson inch closer to Jaebum.

When Jaebum tightens the hold on his nape and pulls him forward, Jackson has a minor struggle, navigating himself to sit on the other man’s lap. The kiss has more heat in it now, Jaebum sneaks his tongue into Jackson’s mouth when the younger boy was taking a breath. He can taste the burger that Jaebum’s partly eaten and something that reminds Jackson of iron.

There are fingers idly playing with the shorter strands of his brown hair while another one wraps around his hips, Jackson’s hands are awkwardly trapped between their bodies; he feels more than a little punch-drunk.

He doesn’t understand how someone he’s only met recently can induce such a reaction throughout his body. Jackson’s chest feels warmer, not only because of the physical contact but something has seemingly ignited there. It was a comfortable warmth though. As Jaebum moves his lips to nip on the younger boy’s jawline, those incessant fluttering sensations return to Jackson’s stomach. He shivers against the other man.

The hand around his waist tightens in response, towing him, making him impossibly closer to Jaebum; straining his already pinned arms. He slowly trails his hands up the other’s torso, noting the definition of pecs through the soft, white shirt. Successfully freeing his arms between their bodies, he rests them atop the older man’s broad shoulders.

All the while, Jaebum’s mouth drags onto his neck, lightly biting and sucking along the way. There’s a tingle running up his spine and the fire in his chest drops down to lower parts of his body. If firey tornados exist, his stomach has one of them in it. Still, somehow, his clouded mind screams at him: _déjà vu_! He thinks it’s because of the hickey incident.

So he cradles Jaebum’s face with his hands and carefully tugs the other man away from his neck. They’re looking at one another one now. In a daze, Jackson scans the older’s appearance: cut cheekbones, sculpted jawline, parted lips swollen red, and onyx eyes with an intense shine to them; eyes staring at him keenly. Their eyes stay glued on each other. Jackson feels like he’s being sucked into a blackhole, like his brain is losing the ability to think due to lack of oxygen and his body is helpless putty against forces stronger than himself. He realises the constant sound he’s been hearing were his own laboured breaths.

“Hyung,” he pauses his sentence to kiss Jaebum, it was too tempting to ignore the plush of his lips. The older man reciprocates it but before they could both get lost in it, Jackson pulls an inch away and looks at Jaebum through half-lidded eyes, “hyung, don’t leave any marks.”

Jaebum immediately dives back to kiss him. He swears that he saw a twinkle in Jaebum’s eyes before he was kissed senseless. The Polaris in the night sky, trying to guide Jackson back to earth since his head was too far off in space. He also swears he could feel a quiet chuckle against his lips, as if Jaebum was laughing at some personal joke. In retaliation, Jackson rolls his hips down onto Jaebum’s lap. The low groan that interrupts their kiss shows that the younger’s efforts were not in vain.

He attempts to do so again when Jaebum pushes up onto him, shocking a moan out of him which the older man uses to lock their lips together once again. They develop a steady rhythm of rubbing onto one another. Jackson hasn’t felt like this much of a teenager in a while, making out and grinding against Jaebum on the couch.

There’s a restriction in his chest caused by minimal oxygen intake, he guesses that his lungs could only be deprived of air so much, unlike Jaebum who seems to have a deep sea diver’s breathing control. Jackson reluctantly breaks the kiss, making the older man go back to nipping at his jaw and neck. Their hips continuing to move as Jackson’s body starts to feel too heated, certain parts of him starting to stand in attention.

He grips Jaebum’s shoulders for purchase, the movement making him lose balance. His shirt shifts, Jaebum tugging the collar aside to get to the spot where his neck and torso meets. He whines when he feels the suction near his collarbones, Jaebum clearly not following his request.

As he was about to voice his disapproval out loud, a sharp pain emanates from where Jaebum’s mouth is. He belatedly realises in his fog of arousal that the older man had bitten him, quite strongly as well. Then there was a haze washing over him, extinguishing the heat throughout him. He feels laxed, floating further away into space without a tether keeping him steady. Their grinding had stopped minutes ago. Jackson’s fingers loses strength and fall to the side, he doesn’t know what’s making the strength out of him leave.

Through blurry he eyes, he sees Jaebum hover over him, looking worried and caressing his face. When did he lay down? His senses start to kick in, albeit ever so sluggishly. He blinks and tries not to notice the slight pain coming from somewhere near his left shoulder. Jaebum helps him sit up on the couch, a glass of water offered to his hand. He drinks the water quickly. His vision is still blurry, he sees Jaebum mouthing words. He asks why the older man won’t just voice out whatever he wants to talk about, his throat hurting in the process.

The answering look of shock doesn’t sit well with him. Jaebum cups both of his cheeks gently, as if Jackson was a fragile piece of china and one hard sneeze would make him break. His eyelids close as Jaebum thumbs over them softly and he feels a chaste peck on his lips. He opens his eyes and tries to speak again but only croaks out a weak “hyung”.

“Jackson-ah, I’m so sorry.”

That was the first thing he hears. He scrunches his eyebrows in confusion. He tries to ask another question but Jaebum just silences him with another sweet kiss. Jackson finds himself weakly leaning in for more.

“I got carried away and I hurt you,” the taller man says, thumbs stroking across Jackson’s defined cheekbones. He can’t exactly comprehend what Jaebum’s trying to tell him and the fact that he’s pretty dazed doesn’t help as well.

“I’ll put you to bed, come on. Point to me which room is yours,” Jaebum makes him stand up, the older man’s arm a pseudo-crutch on the small of Jackson’s back. His arm right arm is draped across the other’s broad shoulders. He winces at the pinprick of pain on his left side.

Jackson points to the door closer to the apartment’s entrance. He allows himself to be half-carried, half-dragged to his room. When Jaebum had offered to carry him, he vehemently refused. The older man just smiled at him and proceeded to help him to his room.

His bed feels wonderful, comforting and soft on his back. He lets himself fall back onto it as his limbs protested from being moved. The mattress dips and Jaebum’s face swims into his vision. Dark eyes watching him with concern. He admires the way the older man’s fair face seem to glisten with the glow-in-the-dark stars on his ceiling. Jackson pulls him down for a peck.

“Jaebummie, you want to sleepover?” He asks against Jaebum’s lips, the distance between their faces so marginal that Jackson knows he’ll be cross-eyed if he stares at the taller man’s eyes for too long.

“Not today, Jackson-ah,” the older man practically coos. Usually Jackson would hate that type of treatment but from Jaebum, he doesn’t seem to mind being spoiled.

“You still owe me,” he yawns. Jackson didn’t realise how tired he was. He’ll probably mull about what’s happened to him later but for now, he wants to make sure that he’ll get to see Jaebum again.

“I do,” Jaebum sits up on the edge of the bed, he looks nervous and Jackson can’t fathom why the older man would be tense. A pale hand softly cards through his hair, he feels so sleepy.

“Tomorrow night, if you’re up for it, I can pick you up and we can go out for dinner. If that’s okay with you that is,” the older man’s lopsided smile returns and the sleepy brunette finds himself drowsily smiling too.

“I’d like that, Jaebummie.”  
  
“Yah, that’s _hyung_ for you.”

Jackson’s forehead receives a light flick. The other hand on his hair soothing him as he settles further onto his bed, blankets being drawn up and pillows fluffed under his head.

“Also, Jackson, you should think about it more. Before you go out with me tomorrow that is.”  
  
“Why is that, hyung?”   
  
“I don’t want you to get into _this_ headfirst without giving you a fair chance to back off.”   
  
“But you—” he yawns, delaying his response. The Chinese boy feels his eyes flutter, heavy with the need to rest. “—you haven’t even told me what _this_ is. What are we, Jaebum-hyung?”   
  
The desolate grin on Jaebum’s face still registers through the younger boy’s lethargic mind. He raises a hand to cup the other’s cheek, Jaebum leans into it; Jackson takes it as a good sign.

“ _This_ can be talked about tomorrow. We, we’re something special,” Jaebum takes the hand on his cheek and places a gentle peck on it before returning it atop the blanket. The younger boy watches as Jaebum stands, walking halfway through the exit of his room.

“I’m serious though, Jackson. Tell me tomorrow if you still want to see me.”

“Okay, hyung,” he turns to the side, burrowing further into his covers.

“Sleep well, Jackson-ah.”  
  
“G’night, hyung.”

* * *

  
  
He hears the door close quietly, the sound of Jaebum’s steps going further away lulls him to sleep.

The first thing he notices when after his morning shower are the twin puncture wounds on his left side, right above his collarbones. It’s not that it hurts much or that it was bleeding but it was just a pretty odd sight. Jackson pokes and prods it, noting that it did hurt when he pressed hard enough but he doesn’t even wince when he brushes it.

“Fuck, I knew he bit me but seriously?”

He contemplates putting a gauze over it but he figures it’d be a waste since the wounds were surprisingly dry already. He sighs, Jaebum’s teeth were as sharp as they looked. Jackson absentmindedly strokes the marks, he chuckles to himself, thinking about how they resembled what a vampire bite would look like. Smirking at the thought, he goes to dress for the day, imagining Jaebum in one of those ridiculous Dracula capes.

Remembering that he has to answer Jaebum, he admittedly hasn’t mulled over the question. However, Jackson knows that he’d love to see the older man again. There was something inherent telling him that he should _be_ with Jaebum. For how long? Jackson doesn’t know. Right now seems to be good though. Furthermore, he may not discern everything that Jaebum’s referring to, especially when the man speaks so ominously, but he’s willing to bet that it wasn’t going to be that bad.

He eyes his phone before picking it up, sending Jaebum a message stating that _yes, he’d still like to have dinner with him_ . As he filters through his inbox, he recalls promising Mark that he’d call him Sunday morning, _Mark’s time_. Jackson groans. He’s going to have to apologise and apologising would entail explaining why he forgot to call earlier in the first place.

It was eleven in the morning in Seoul right now which means it’ll be roughly six or seven at Monday night in LA. He knows that Mark won’t be mad at him but he fears Mark’s prying more than his bestfriend’s possible wrath. For a fact, he knows that if Mark deems the information noteworthy, the American would tell Jinyoung. And Jinyoung finding out that he went against his explicit warnings would just be a world of pain. However, Jackson thumbs over the video call option on Mark’s contact screen anyway. What’s done is done and he has no regrets, just a weird bite mark to show for it.

Besides, when the Chinese boy woke up, he immediately checked the apartment to see iif anything was stolen and there was none. Jaebum had even left his long coat on the rack near the entrance. Jackson smiles, he had run a hand through the sleeve: soft, slightly rough, and seeminglt sturdy. He figures that it must’ve been made of wool.

“Jackson?”  
  
A deep voice offset by poor reception interrupts Jackson’s musings. He focuses on the phone in his hand, Mark’s confused face trying to peer at him from the other side of the world. Jackson wills himself to carefree smile and brings the phone up to his face.

“Markiepooh!!”

“You said you’d call early. On Sunday. I just got back from work because it’s already late Monday, _my time_.”

“I know but I got caught up in something! I’m so sorry, Mark!”  
  
“Oh, I see,” Mark says with a squint, meaning he’s caught wind of something like a bloodhound sniffing easy game through the breeze. He tries not to gulp in plain view of his friend.

“I—” he remembers Mark’s concerned messages and wonders how it must feel to not be able to physically be there for your friend when you’re worried, he really shouldn’t lie to him.

“Mark, promise me you won’t tell Jinyoung when he calls you,” Jackson pauses, seeing the older man about to cut into his sentence, “and cut the crap about you two not talking, I know you like call each other every other day or something.”  
  
“True,” Mark quips with a smirk. The meaning? Jackson doesn’t want to know.

“Anyway, I had a weird nightmare about drowning in blood but that’s not important right now, the thing is—”  
  
“You had a dream that you were drowning in blood?”   
  
Mark’s voice goes up an octave when he interrupted Jackson from his story. The younger boy doesn’t really appreciate the sudden commentary so he shushes Mark, raising a finger to his lips for emphasis. Mark nods and does the zipping action across his mouth to signal his compliance.

“Yes, so, I totally got my mac on with this guy who I met kind of recently—”

“Didn’t I tell you to stop your whole crusade of one night stands before you catch an STD or get drugged and killed at a bar?”  
  
“Mark! You said you’d be quiet!”   
  
“Shit, yeah, sorry, continue,” Mark gestures with a hand for the younger boy to continue. Jackson begrudgingly thinks that Mark used to be such a good listener until the older man started to talk to Jinyoung. His roommate’s naggy-ness may have rubbed off onto his best friend.

“Back to my story, before I was so rudely interrupted. I met a guy and TL;DR we basically Netflix and Chill-ed at the apartment since Jinyoungie left a for a few days then the guy bit me, plus I was exhausted from my workout ealier on the day, so he tucked me in and left. We didn’t get too far, just some teen levelled stuff though. Also, we’re going out to dinner later, his treat.”

“Jesus, Jackson. First off, are you developing narcolepsy? You’re falling asleep randomly a lot these days. Second, holy shit, is this thing with _this dude_ serious?”

“I don’t know to both? I figured the sleepiness was just fatigued ‘cause I may have worked out longer than I should’ve. As for the thing with _this dude_ , I just know I want to be with him right now,” he shrugs. Although being with Jaebum seems like a great prospect, he’s not certain if it’s only a short gratification kind of thing he wants or if he wants it to be long term.

“Do you want to talk about it, Jacks?”  
  
“Not yet, we’re going to have the _talk_ later tonight so I’d probably make up my mind by then.” 

“Well, whatever you choose. I’m here for you.”

“Thanks, Mark.”  
  
“Anytime, Jackson.”   
  
The pair of them started catching up on each other’s week. How busy Mark was with work and how enamoured Jackson is with Jaebum. Rolling his eyes at the word _chic_ , the American eventually tells Jackson that he has to sleep since he’s working the next day. They bid each other the proper goodbyes.

* * *

 

He feels lighter now that he’s finally told someone what’s been haunting his thoughts for a while. Mark’s casual acceptance of whatever ambivalent relationship he wants with Jaebum reassures him. Jackson lets the comfort settle onto him.

The Chinese boy doesn’t worry about Jaebum’s lack of reply this time, he knows the older man’s tendency to be busy. He tries to plan out the hours before his dinner with Jaebum.

Walking down the street to Paper Heart cafe was something Jackson finds himself doing often. Sometimes, Jinyoung tags along with him and they eat lunch together while Amber fusses about the establishment. He worries about his roommate, the Chinese native sends a quick message asking him if he’s okay. The younger boy doesn’t reply right away, Jackson shrugs off his concerns; Jinyoung’s probably just busy.

Upon entering the shop, he notices the two women in one of the corner tables talking to Amber. He hasn’t seen them before and he’s a regular here which that means they’re new to town or they just discovered the cafe. Jackson’s never been a busybody though, meddling was something Jinyoung or Bambam did most of the time, so he heads straight to the counter and orders a sandwich with an iced green tea latte (made with almond milk).

He’s receiving the takeaway bag when one of the girls walks up to him. Jackson notes that from this close, she’s attractive with her long black hair and red lipstick that were a stark contrast to her pale skin. He intuitively steps aside, thinking she might be getting her order. It shocks him when she simply smiles at him before speaking.

“Hi, Amber was telling me you come here often,” she extends a manicured hand. Jackson shakes it, wanting to be polite to the stranger who’s suddenly come up to talk to him.

“Yeah, I live around here. I’m Jackson by the way.”  
  
“Sunmi,” she squeezes his hand hard before pulling her hand away. He thinks of how strong her grip is when he awkwardly retracts his.

She leans against the counter after they shake hands. The Chinese boy notes that she’s tall, only about three or four inches shorter than him; she’s slim as well. _Super attractive_. He mentally tells himself to nip that bud before it blooms into unwarranted thoughts.

“Did you just move here?”

“No, my friend and I,” she points to the other woman still talking to Amber, “are just visiting for a while. We’re kind of looking for something persay.”

“What are you looking for? Maybe I can help, I’ve been here for a few years.”  
  
“Oh, it’s nothing really but if you happen to come across anything strange though, tell Amber and she’ll pass it on to us,” Sunmi says with a friendly grin but it somehow makes the tiny hairs on Jackson’s body stand up, the atmosphere was weird.

“Ah, okay. I’ll keep my eyes open then.”

“Also, Jackson, be careful at night,” the woman stands up to return to her table, a mug of coffee from the counter in her hands. He didn’t even notice her receive her order.

“Okay, I will…”

He nods at her as he makes his way to leave. Amber spots him as he was attempting to slip out, the older woman simply waves at him as she goes back to her conversation with the two newcomers.

It was when Jackson was back at his apartment, munching on his turkey sandwich, that he realised that Sunmi had warned him to be careful at night. Something that he’s been actively doing ever since the party where he blacked out. He shrugs the creeping feeling of apprehension coming from the back of his head. it was most likely nothing but a coincidence.


	5. Chapter 5

Jaebum picks him up at seven sharp. He carries the black jacket that the older man left, he had been on the fence about wearing it but he assumes that Jaebum wouldn’t have appreciated it. Instead, the Chinese boy wears a tight-fitting pair of black jeans, a black shirt tucked in, and a slightly oversized Chicago Bulls jacket that Mark gave him last Christmas.

The huge, black SUV that’s parked in front of his apartment building surprises him. He eyes the silver letters embedded on the side, _Grand Cherokee_ , and wonders who owns such an expensive vehicle when the area mostly consists of university students or middle tier white-collar workers. Hypothetically, it could be owned by some chaebol going to the uni, Jackson shrugs and looks around for his _open_ \- _quote_ date _end_ \- _quote_.

It wasn’t until the heavily tinted window rolls down and shows Jaebum in the driver seat that he gets it. The older man has a smirk on his face, probably because Jackson’s been standing on the sidewalk for a good five minutes, looking like a lost puppy waiting for him. He moves closer to the opened window, glaring at the other man.

“Geez, you’re so nice, hyung. After I graciously accepted dinner with you,” he makes a face at Jaebum whose smirk has shifted into the fond lopsided smile that Jackson likes.

“Ahh, it was just a joke, princess,” Jaebum coos, his hand reaching out to pinch Jackson’s cheek.

“Princess?”

His eye twitches at the nickname, he isn’t sure if he likes it or not just yet. The older man just smiles more, his eyes turning into crescents. He swats at the arm Jaebum still has out until the man in the driver’s seat regards him.

“Get in, Jackson-ah.”

When Jaebum gestures with head for Jackson to go to the passenger seat, the younger boy does so. The inside was as spacious as he thought it would be due to the sheer size of the car. The seat is so damn comfortable too. He dumps Jaebum’s black jacket on the other’s lap as he fidgets around to find the seat belt. As soon as he straps in his seat belt, Jaebum’s leaning in towards him, he quirks a brow at the smile that the older’s wearing.

“What?”  
  
“Don’t I get a kiss hello?”  
  
“You blew it when you let me stand there like an idiot looking for you.” He faces away from the older man, trying his best not to pout because damnit, he’s not going to fall for the other’s teasing again.

“Is that so?” Jaebum keeps smiling at him, the driver’s hand reaching to gently grab him by the jaw, making Jackson turn to look at the other man.

“Yep,” he says sternly, his lips form a tight line as he watches Jaebum scanning him. He doesn’t know why the other man is watching him intently (Jaebum seems to do that a lot) but he finds that he doesn’t mind.

His line of vision seems to settle on Jaebum’s lips, he notes that they’re not as red when they haven’t been kissed. He sees the other’s lips form a smirk and knows he’s been caught ogling.

“So,” Jaebum pulls his face closer to his, the hand on his chin has somehow gone to his nape. He shifts his gaze to the other man’s eyes and sees the same twinkle in them, “do you want a kiss as an apology?”

He thinks of saying no just to spite the older man but at the same time, he really wants a kiss. Jackson slowly inches to the other man, the seat belt constricting him from completely going to Jaebum. He stops until their lips are only a few centimetres apart.

“Maybe,” he says, teasingly. He bats his lashes as emphasis, Jaebum looks down on him slightly. Jackson notes that even when sitting down, the other man is still taller than him.

“Are you sure?”

A hand on his cheek caresses him, Jackson blinks and feels Jaebum’s breath ghost near his ear. The older man had moved during the short span he didn’t have his eyes on him. Tingles run down from his neck where Jaebum’s other hand still hold him in place.

“Yep.”  
  
He deadpans, looking straight at Jaebum to gauge what his reaction would be. What happens next disappoints him as the older man simply scoots back to his seat, releasing him, and starts the car. Jackson knows he’s pouting but Jaebum probably wouldn’t see anyway since the driver’s eyes were on the road as they speed off to who knows where.

“Don’t sulk, Jackson-ah. You were the one who didn’t give me a clear answer,” Jaebum tantalises him, a smirk on the other man’s features while he drives.

The Chinese boy can see a losing battle when he’s in one so he shrugs and changes the subject. He’ll get back at the older man later.

“Where are we going anyway?”

“You said sampgyupsal so we’re going to a place near Han river that I like.”  
  
“You’re going to treat me, right?”   
  
A chuckle is what he gets as an answer, he would’ve hit Jaebum if the other man wasn’t driving. He settles further into his seat, watching the Seoul city lights blur by. Comfortable silence washes over them before Jaebum breaks it a minute later.

“Of course, princess. I’ll pay for whatever you want to eat.”

“I’m going to get the most expensive things in the menu.”

The noncommittal hum he receives from the driver doesn’t faze him. He’s slowly getting used to Jaebum’s teasing ways. Jackson’s own response was a huff. He suddenly remembers the bite wounds near his left shoulder.

“So hyung, do you some weird vampire fetish that I should know about? You left some really _noticeable_ marks on me.” 

He sees Jaebum tense up from his peripheral vision. The younger boy wonders if he’s said something upsetting or if he’s accidentally stepped on some unspoken boundaries. Jaebum’s nice and all but that doesn’t mean that Jackson can just walk all over him.

“But you don’t have to answer me if it makes you uncomfor—”

“It’s okay, Jackson-ah. If it’s all the same to you, we can talk about it after dinner. We can take a stroll along Han river.”

The older man reassures him by placing his hand on Jackson’s knee and squeezing it. He rests his hand over it and laces their fingers together. Jackson muses that if they die because Jaebum didn’t keep both of his hands on the steering wheel, at least they’ll die happy at the moment.

He tries not to think about his future too much although it’s looking pretty bright.

Right now, Jackson is unbelievably content to just sit there in the passenger seat while Jaebum navigates them through Seoul. He’s so relaxed that the serene atmosphere between the two of them soothes him to sleep.

* * *

 

He doesn’t wake up when the SUV stops, rather, Jackson wakes up to Jaebum staring at him from where the older man’s sat. The Chinese boy’s first (still drowsy) thoughts were _how long has he been looking at me_ and _this car seat is cozier than my bed_.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer, hyung,” Jackson quips, chuckling at his own joke. It breaks the trance that the other man was seemingly in.

“You were nicer to look at when you weren’t talking,” the older man retorts with a smile. Jackson feigns being offended by placing a hand over his chest and making a sour face.

“I’ll have you know, Jaebum- _hyung_ , that I’m nice to look at _all_ the time,” he huffs.

“Sure, you are.”  
  
Jackson couldn’t comprehend if that was sarcasm or a genuine compliment that was just deadpanned. He’s heady with delight, thinking that he’s one up-ed Jaebum and to know that the man _liked_ looking at him.

Too busy with his thoughts, Jackson didn’t realise that the vehicle’s driver had already departed and said driver was currently opening the car door which he was leaning on. He almost falls out but thankfully, the seatbelt and Jaebum keeps him in place. The Chinese boy watches as Jaebum unclasps his seatbelt, he turns to face the older man.  
  
“So, are you going to step aside so I can get out or should I just stay here?”   
  
He jokes, placing both of his hands on Jaebum’s shoulder, enjoying the definition of them. Cocking his head to the side, he waits for the older man to let him go and sidestep so he can get out of the car. Jackson’s stunned when the Korean, instead, steps closer and plants a searing kiss on his lips.

Jackson eyes flutter shut but just as he was about to reciprocate, Jaebum pulls away slightly. Embarrassingly so, the Chinese boy knows he had chased the other’s lips. He wills the flush coming up to his face to disappear.

“What was that for?” He aims to sound sassy but he croaks out a word or two during the span of that quick reply.

“You said maybe when I asked if you wanted a kiss as an apology, I was hoping you made up your mind when we got here,” Jaebum smiles easily however, the younger boy recognises the rosy hues on the other’s cheeks and the way the other man can’t seem to look Jackson straight in the face. He bites his lips to prevent himself from gushing at how much a dork Jaebum is.

“Was that the sorry kiss already or are you going to give me one like you mean it?” He leans forward, his nose touching with Jaebum’s as he grins amusingly. Jackson sees the way the older man’s eyes glint at the repartee. He’s already closing his eyes when he feels a hand on his cheek pulling him closer to Jaebum.

A soft touch of lips, an unhurried movement between; Jaebum seems to be taking his time with this kiss since he (technically) got Jackson’s permission. The younger boy lets the languid kissing go deeper, a tongue exploring the caverns of his mouth. He shivers when Jaebum licks up, prodding a sensitive part of his palette. He kisses back harder yet Jaebum simply slows it down again, leisurely exploring Jackson’s mouth.  
  
It wasn’t until Jackson realises that he needed to breathe was when they broke apart. Somehow, the Chinese boy’s arms had wound themselves around Jaebum’s shoulders and one of the older man’s hands was clutching at Jackson’s thigh.

“So does that mean you accept my apology?” Jaebum smirks, probably knowing the younger boy’s answer from the dazed look on his face. Jackson just nods, confounded.

“Alright, Jackson-ah. Let’s go to the restaurant now,” the older man chuckles, holding the Chinese boy’s hand and helping him out of the SUV. Jackson snaps out of the trance he was in when the door shuts, he glares at the back of Jaebum’s head as the other man leads him to a quaint little restaurant.

From the outside, the younger boy can already tell that the place they were eating at served traditional Korean food. The architecture was reminiscent of ancient Korea with its grand tiled roof and pillars, however, there was a modern twist as the structure itself was lined with fancy glass windows and a glass fountain installation by the entrance. Jackson snorts, it seems so chic. Reminds him of a certain someone he knows. He rolls his eyes at Jaebum.

They’re automatically greeted by a maitre’d in a hanbok, he guesses that the Korean man had made a reservation. Once they were ushered to a private room, also lavishly decorated like one of those Joseon era drama sets that Jinyoung likes, and seated across from one another when Jackson sends Jaebum a questioning look. The older man seems to regard it well enough.

“What?” Jaebum sighs, putting down the menu he was browsing through.

“I thought you were living off an inheritance but you don’t seem to have a problem splurging,” he squints at the older man, as if he can get answers with his gaze alone. The older man just shrugs and mumbles something in response.

“What was that, hyung?” Jackson puts a hand next to his ear, the universal sign of _please speak louder because I can’t hear you._

“It was a big inheritance,” the older man mutters loud enough for Jackson to hear and goes back to browsing through the menu.

When Jackson teased Jaebum to treat him to samgyupsal, he never expected this. He expected one of those casual diners wherein you get tongs and the meat then cook it yourself at the table. Maybe one with grade A meat if Jaebum wasn’t stingy but this, _this_ was not even within Jackson’s scope of thought.

“Where’s my menu?” He asks Jaebum who smiles awkwardly at him from the other side of the table.  
  
“I didn’t want you to see the prices, just tell me what you want and I’ll get it,” the lopsided smile that Jackson was normally fond of seems to taunt him now. Jaebum just continues to express the stiff grin at the younger boy’s glare.

“Fine, I’ll let it go for now, you owe me anyway,” Jackson huffs.

He rattles on what he wants, from galbitang to some prime samgyupsal, bulgogi, and even tteoboki. Jaebum just seems to nod, mentally taking everything down. As soon as Jackson says that’s all he wants, the older man might have clicked a hidden button because a waiter was immediately sliding open their room’s door, ready to take their order.

The waiter and Jaebum engage in a conversation, probably about the order and some specifics like what cut of meat or something, Jackson doesn’t really know. He and family were well-off in Hong Kong but they didn’t frequent establishments like this whereas Jaebum seems used to it. He eyes Jaebum skeptically, another layer of the older man suddenly revealed. The younger boy can’t help but wonder what else Jaebum’s about to tell him.

Once the waiter graciously excuses himself, Jackson pounces at the chance to ask the older man some questions.

“Jaebummie-hyung, are some chaebol by any chance?” he beams, trying his best to act as innocently curious as possible. However, Jaebum seems to already know his ulterior motives and shrugs, drinking a glass of water.

“Hyung, are you like an heir to a Korean yakuza or something?” He continues prying since Jaebum is pointedly not answering him. Besides, it wouldn’t be so far off if Jaebum was part of a gang, it would explain why he was out at odd times at night.

The older man smiles at him tolerantly as asks a couple more questions, each one more outlandish than the first. For example: _were you a deep-sea diver and found a chest full of gold from an ancient trade ship in the Korean sea?_ Or _did you help a rich old lady cross the street and she wrote you as the sole inheritor of her fortune?_

“Hyuuuung, why aren’t you telling me anything?”

“Because it’s cute when you keep asking,” Jaebum’s smile reaches his eyes this time, turning his cat-like stare into a pair of crescents. The Chinese boy thinks that this one might be his favourite smile or at least it’s in strong competition with the tilted grin Jaebum likes to give him more often.

“Hyung, I thought that when I agreed to eat with you, you’d tell me _things_ ,” he emphasises his point by gesturing quotation marks with his hands at the word _things_.

“I told you afterwards, I just want to enjoy dinner with you,” Jaebum states so matter-of-factly that Jackson can’t find it in himself to argue. He supposes his curiousity can wait, he can just enjoy this moment with the older man.

Precisely after Jaebum utters that sentence, another waiter comes in, carrying a different menu. Jackson cocks his head at Jaebum in question. The other man simply turns his attention to the waiter, picking something in a hushed tone before asking Jackson if he’d like any wine. The younger shakes his head as a no, he needs to watch his diet for fencing (seriously, he will.)

“Hyung?”

“Yes, Jackson-ah?”

“You’re not like a _sponsor_ by any chance, right? ‘Cause let me get this clear, I’m not about that life, buddy. Also, you’re a really lousy one, if ever, since I treated you twice before you even bought me dinner,” Jackson spouts, it leaves Jaebum shaking and covering his mouth with a fist. The younger boy can see how the other man is valiantly trying his best to not burst out laughing.

“Jackson-ah,” the older man begins with a quaky voice, most likely due to repressed laughter, “Jackson-ah, I’m not a _sugar daddy_ nor am I trying to baby you.”

“Okay, okay, I guess that’s good.” Jackson chuckles a bit, feeling silly about these weird notions he’s been having. He really needs to calm down and just enjoy their dinner.

The second waiter (“sommerlier” Jaebum tells him when he asked) comes back with a crystal carafe full of red liquid, Jackson assumes it’s some expensive red wine that the older man had ordered. With a glass full of sloshing wine, Jaebum raises a toast to him from across the table; the younger boy returns the gesture with his glass of water.

They have a pleasant dinner. Jackson finds himself liking Jaebum more and more during their conversation. They talk about the younger boy’s studies while Jackson attempts to down a whole bowl of galbitang in one go. Jaebum brings up his liking of film-making in between bites of a tender piece of grilled pork. Both of them even laugh when Jackson, flustered by a comment the older man made, sends a rice cake (from the tteokbokki) flying towards Jaebum’s face. The two of them continue to joke around and get to know one another better. Plus the food was awesome.

It was overall a great meal.

* * *

 

Walking along Han river at night was vastly different from the times when Jackson jogged there in the mornings. For one, there was no annoying glare from the sun, just a calm shine over his skin from the moonlight. The breeze felt fresh and tremendously cooling as the water shimmers with fragmented reflections of Seoul’s many lights.

Jaebum holds his hand as they quietly walk down the pathway, they weren’t so distant from the restaurant. The younger boy can turn his head and spot the extravagant roof of the place but not much else. He wonders if he’s allowed to start prying anytime soon but the atmosphere was too comfortable to break so he’d rather wait until the older man did it. Glancing at Jaebum (he notes that he has to look up, grudgingly), he’s suddenly aware of the tightness of the other’s jawline and determined straightforward gaze. Jackson figures that whatever the taller man’s about to tell him must be intense.

He gives the other’s hand a firm squeeze, making Jaebum look at him in question. Jackson simply offers a soft smile, hopefully reassuring the other that everything’s fine. The gaze Jaebum sends him is searching, for what? He doesn’t know. However, the sadness in the older man’s eyes doesn’t go unnoticed. He was about to ask what’s up when Jaebum tugs him forward, he unceremoniously falls onto the older man’s chest.

Arms wrap around him, pinning him to Jaebum. He looks up in question but Jaebum’s just quietly looking back at him.   
  
“Jackson,” Jaebum starts but cuts himself off, perhaps reconsidering what he’s about to say to the younger boy. “Jackson-ah, what if I’m not what you thought I was?”   
  
“Like what? Like you’re not a decent guy and you’re actually about to murder me right now?” He says it as a joke but he couldn’t help letting the uncertainty bleed through his words.

The soft smile that the older man directs at him makes Jackson fluster. He steps back, freeing himself from Jaebum who let him go without a complaint.

“Hyung, I’m sure whatever it is you’re about to tell me isn’t so bad.”  
  
Jaebum sighs and runs a hand through his hair, making the red dye of it shine under the moonlight. The Chinese boy watches him expectantly, he’s pretty sure that what Jaebum’s about to say isn’t as horrible as the older man’s thinking it could be. Well, as long as Jaebum’s not actually married to a rich older woman and hooks up with people during his spare time because _yikes_.

“Jackson, I’m serious.”

He sees the way there’s a plea on the older man’s expression, a silent request for something Jackson isn’t sure what. So the younger boy schools his face into a more serious countenance and meets Jaebum’s dark eyes with his brown ones.

“I am too. I’m pretty serious about whatever’s going on with us,” he stands his ground and sets his eyes firmly onto Jaebum’s. There’s a soft touch on his cheek, Jaebum reached out to him with a fond smile on his lips. He doesn’t let the contact distract him.

“I’m serious, hyung. Now you better tell me what you’re being so secretive about or I’m walking home.”  
  
“We’re really far from your neck of the woods, Jackson-ah,” the Korean teases as he pulls back his hand from Jackson’s face. The fond stare he’s levered on the younger boy has Jackson fidgety with the need to touch Jaebum as well.

“Then you better tell me what’s your secret so I don’t have to walk so far away~”

He sing-songs the words to Jaebum whose smile grows into something more amused than affectionate. Jackson figures that he’s doing good since the older man’s not as tense as he was earlier. He sends Jaebum back one of his patented mega-watt smiles.

“Can I guess?”

Jaebum squints at him, probably trying to understand what could possibly be going through the younger boy’s train of thought. The boy in question just looks at him unabashed, beaming almost innocently. Hesitantly, Jaebum nods at him.

“Your skin is pale white and ice cold,” Jackson starts with a glint in his eyes and his mouth tight without any trace of humour.

The older man’s eyes widen for a fraction of a second before nodding again.

“Your eyes have a twinkle in them and sometimes, you speak like an old man,” the younger boy continues and wags a finger at Jaebum who was about to retort.

“You barely drink or eat anything that isn’t alcohol or Korean food. You don’t go out in the sunlight..”

Jaebum visibly gulps and an uncertainty is visible within in his eyes. The older man’s hands are clenched into fists by his sides, his lips set into a line. Jackson can see the other’s reaction so clearly but he barrels on anyway.

“...how old are you?”  
  
“Twenty-three.” 

“How long have you been twenty-three?”

“A while,” Jaebum shrugs, gently taking the Chinese boy’s hand. The older man looks down at their interlocked hands.

The sight makes the butterflies in his stomach surge up into his throat, making it harder to speak. However, Jackson knows that he has to go through with it. He’s started it. He can’t end it halfway through.

“I know what you are.”

“Jackson-ah, I can—”

He bursts out laughing, he couldn’t take it anymore. Busting out those iconic lines from Twilight just gets him and Jaebum looked so out of his depth that it just added to the gag. When the initial humour dies down, he turns to look at Jaebum. The other man has a confused look on his face. Jackson grips the hand in his and sends him, what he thinks is, a reassuring smile.

“Hyung, that was a joke. Have you ever seen Twilight?”

“You mean that _really_ bad vampire movie?”  
  
“Yeah!”  
  
“No…”

“I just quoted some of Bella’s lines at you. You responded pretty much how Edward did so I thought you knew. It was p’funny,” Jackson giggles again at the memory.

A squeeze of his hand reminds him that he still has company (not like he’d ever forget Jaebum), a he smiles at Jaebum who has a frown on his face. Jackson decides to fix it by poking a cheek with his other hand.

“Awwww, hyung. Did I get you good? I’m sorry, Jaebummie-hyung!”

“You said you were serious,” the other man deadpans, pulling Jackson closer to him once again via the hand he was holding. The younger boy nearly collides harshly with Jaebum’s chin but (not so)graceful manoeuvring makes his face land on the older man’s chest. He takes in the scent of Jaebum: the same metallic tinge, a hint of pine and sandalwood, ashes and wine.

“I am serious but you looked like you needed some lightening up,” he replies while wrapping his arms around the other’s neck. Jackson positions himself better so that he’s back to looking up at Jaebum’s face (now closer) instead of face-planting on his chest.

“Twilight, really?” Jaebum snorts, his arms cage the younger boy’s waist.

“It was funny,” Jackson retorts, he inches his face towards the older man’s; their noses bump. He smiles up at  Jaebum and tries not to think about the fact he’s standing on the tip of his toes right now.

A hum is all he gets in response before Jaebum leans down to capture his lips. He kisses back slowly since the other man is taking his time too. They incrementally draw apart after a few seconds, the kiss languid and casual. Staring at each other, they share soft smiles.

“Jaebum-oppa!”

A voice suddenly calls out, the two of them turn their heads to the direction of the disturbance. It was a girl. Jackson retracts his arms and steps away from Jaebum. The older man is still clutching at his midsection, this time not letting him go. He turns to the other man but Jaebum was looking at the girl who was approaching them, another girl not so far behind her.

“Oppa! You’re out so early tonight,” the girl says as she stands right in front of them. The other girl catches up and sidles to the other girl’s side.

“I had prior engagements. What are you two doing out?”

Jackson notes how the older man had carefully stepped in front of him, shielding him from the newcomers’ eyes. The Korean released his waist, in favour of holding his hand as he talked to the girl. He finds it oddly cute how protective Jaebum is of him but at the same time, it’s kind of weird, like what’s two skinny young ladies going to do to harm him?

“We’re going on patrol. There’s some rogue _blades_ in our turf,” the same girl states.

From where he’s stood, Jackson catches how her eyes are blue (from contacts? maybe) and how she has light brown hair with blonde highlights. The other girl elbows the blue-eyed one and looks straight at him; this one has pinkish dark red hair.

“Oh. Hi. I’m Jennie,” she beams and points to the other girl, “this is Jisoo. Are you Jaebum-oppa’s boyfriend?”

“Yah. Don’t ask invasive questions, it’s none of your business,” Jaebum pushes the younger boy further behind him. Jackson was about to protest when a more timid voice speaks up.

“How about Jennie and oppa _catch up_ and I’ll keep your friend company,” Jisoo smiles gently (it reminds him weirdly of Jinyoung) and steps closer to Jackson, he can smell her rosy perfume from where she stands.

The hand in his reluctantly lets him go, Jackson looks at Jaebum who seems apprehensive. He gives the older man one of his most reassuring smiles and doesn’t flinch when this Jisoo girl stands next to him, smiling too. Jaebum walks towards the other girl then the two of them walk further away from earshot. He guesses it was probably an important conversation.

“Jaebum-oppa’s a good guy. Trust me, I’ve known him my whole life,” Jisoo states as they watch Jennie and Jaebum talk at a distance.

“Are you two related?” He asks, intrigued.

“He’s, uhm, not exactly _my_ family but he’s like a close family friend.”

He nods, not really knowing how to continue the conversation. The other girl mentioned something about rogue blades and that was pretty weird on its own. Then there’s the fact that these two, admittedly pretty, girls were on patrol for because of that. Plus turfs? What is this? Is Jackson getting caught up in one of those Korean mafias? Jisoo did say that Jaebum wasn’t in her _family_. So are these girls and Jaebum from friendly groups or?

“You don’t need to think so hard about it,” Jisoo’s words snap him out of his thoughts. He lets out an awkward laugh in response before he remembers that they haven’t been introduced.  
  
“I’m Jackson, by the way. I forgot to mention earlier ‘cause I was too busy being forcibly hidden behind hyung. I’m sure you’ve noticed,” he tells her with a smile. The girl beside him covers her mouth and shakes a bit, Jackson guesses that she’s laughing.

“Jaebum-oppa isn’t usually like that so it’s really funny watching him interact with you,” she grins up at him.

“So what’s this about rogues?” He blurts out, his curiousity couldn’t be hushed any longer. He sees the way Jisoo’s eyes widen and how her shoulders go rigid.

“Oppa hasn’t told you anything?”

“Told me what exactly?”

Jisoo smiles at him sweetly, she glances at Jaebum and Jennie still talking: the conversation seems to be tense by the way that the older man’s frowning and how the other girl paces uneasily. She turns back to Jackson.

“He’ll tell you in his own time, I suppose. I just think it’s best that you become extra careful about who you meet these days,” she says lowly, almost a whisper.

He nods again, following Jisoo’s line of sight. Jackson watches the exchange between his date and the light-haired girl. The way Jaebum’s back is stiff and his chin is drawn tight isn’t a good sign. On the other hand, Jennie is biting her lip while walking back and forth. His staring must’ve been noticed because the older man is suddenly meeting his eye. Jaebum mutters something to the other girl who nods and the pair of them are walking back towards them.

“Hey,” the older man greets, he holds Jackson’s hand and interlocks their fingers. He grins up at the other man in response. From his peripherals, he can see that Jisoo and Jennie are about to leave.

“Okay, so we’re going back on pa—(Jisoo elbows her again)—our walk. Stay safe you two!” Jennie exclaims while Jisoo waves. Jackson returns the gestures and adds on a ‘nice to meet you’. The girls amble the opposite way him and Jaebum were going.

“They seem nice, hyung,” he says once the two of them start walking down the pathway again.

“Jackson, I think I should take you back to your place now,” Jaebum spouts. The younger boy just stops moving and stares at the other man incredulously. Their hands come apart.

“Seriously?” he deadpans.

Not only has Jaebum not told anything about whatever it is the older man’s hiding, he’s now incredibly curious about what that conversation with Jennie was all about. Furthermore, the two of them have had a good dinner and a relatively awesome walk along Han river but shouldn’t there be more to this date? Jackson wasn’t expecting anything extreme but it might’ve been great to hang out with Jaebum more.

“It’s d—something came up,” Jaebum reasons while turning his face away from the Chinese boy. The action ticks off Jackson even more.

“First, you won’t tell me anything and now, you’re cutting our walk short because you’re trying to hide things from me again,” he insinuates, he tries his best not to lose his cool. Jackson may be pissed but he doesn’t want to permanently get rid of Jaebum.

“Jackson-ah, I’m sorry.”

He feels Jaebum inch towards him, he senses the hands that rest on his shoulders. Jackson sighs, leans forward so that his face settles on the crook of the older man’s neck. The older man’s arms shift so they could loosely cage Jackson around his waist.

“I’m so sorry. Please give me time.”

Lips graze his neck, he would’ve shrugged Jaebum off but he’s too comfortable right now. He takes a deep breath. Jackson remembers Jisoo’s words: _he’ll tell you in his own time._ Maybe the older man’s secret was so serious that it couldn’t simply be told. Jaebum did appear extremely stressed when he was about to reveal it. Jackson buries his face further onto Jaebum.

“I promise I’ll tell you eventually,” Jaebum whispers into his ear, it makes the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He grunts in response.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s just that it’s _not safe_ at the moment.”   
  
There’s an obvious plea in the older man’s voice, he sighs at his inevitable defeat. He can’t stay mad at Jaebum for long apparently. Jackson raises his head and comes face to face with the older man. He sees the tinge of worry on the other’s face, as well as the relief.

“I’ll give you time. I’ll hold you to your promise. I trust you,” he states solemnly.

It makes Jaebum’s dark eyes glaze over, as if he’s about to cry. Jackson smiles at that. He cradles the older man’s face and gives him a quick peck on the lips. Jaebum chases his mouth but he holds the other man at a few inches distance.

“You don’t deserve any more tonight,” he teases, sticking his tongue out.

“Yah, that’s not how you treat your elders,” Jaebum tries to lean in again however, Jackson still holds his face far from his. A smirk on the younger boy’s face. He pulls away from him and walks ahead.

“C’mon, hyung. I thought you were taking me home,” he winks, he’s purposely trying to get on Jaebum’s nerves now. Revenge is a dish best served cold after all.

The loud sigh he elicits from the older man is all the warning he gets before he’s abruptly swept off his feet. He was suddenly over Jaebum’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes, a hand not-so-innocently on his butt while another secures his waist.

“Im Jaebum! Put me down!”

He shouts, his laughing ruins the angry the tone of the words. Jackson doesn’t want to kick or punch because he really doesn’t want to accidently harm the older man so he settles for squirming against Jaebum’s hold. It doesn’t garner the desired effects because Jaebum simply tightens his hold while jogging towards the parking lot.

“I’m going to punch your stupid handsome face when you put me down!”

The corresponding laugh he receives from the older man just aggravates him even more. He figures this is better than Jaebum carrying him like a princess. He will never be able to live that down. Although he’s annoyed, he has to admit that this is funny. Two grown men acting like this. Jackson’s laughter mingles with the older man’s laugh all the way back to the car.

When he hears the beep of the car keys, signalling that the SUV’s been opened, he thinks that he’ll be able to stand on his own two feet again. But he was wrong. Jaebum opens the backseat of the Jeep and dumps him there. The soft padding of the seats break his fall. He was about to complain when he spots Jaebum climbing over him and shutting the door.

“Whatcha’ gonna do, hyung?”  
  
He bats his lashes, taunting the other man who looks like he wants to eat Jackson. The younger boy remembers how the other man had bitten him and literally left twin puncture marks, he licks his lips and pulls the other man down so their mouths meet. Jaebum’s more eager this time, swiftly licking into the younger boy’s mouth while his hands explore Jackson’s body. Jackson preens at all the attention he’s suddenly getting.

Cold hands find their way underneath his shirt, he shivers. Jackson pulls away from the other man’s mouth so he can look at him. He bites his lip when he sees how dark Jaebum’s eyes have become and how red the other’s lip were. The younger boy plays with the short hairs on the older man’s nape.

“You’re so mean, hyung.”

“Couldn’t help myself, sorry.”

Jaebum apologises but before the Chinese boy could make a remark, lips were on his again, pressing against his harder this time. As Jackson tries to match the other’s insistent tongue with his, the older man starts to lightly trace the bite wounds on his collar. He shivers at the contact.  
  
Not wanting to be on the receiving end for so long, Jackson distances his mouth from the older man’s, a wet smacking sound echoes through the car upon their separation. He sees the frown on Jaebum’s face but continues to wriggle himself free from under the older man. Once he’s sitting upright facing the confused Korean, he makes his move.

Jackson pushes the older man so that his back collides with the car door. The look of shock on the other man’s visage would have made the younger boy laugh if he weren’t very serious right now. He crawls slowly so that he’s on top of Jaebum, They’re both looking at one another now. Their staring match abruptly breaks when Jaebum surges forward to capture his lips again. However, it was a short kiss although deep. Jackson scrunches his features at the sudden stop. He eyes Jaebum with a question.  

“Jackson, I’m a vampire,” Jaebum blurts out in one hasty breath.

He laughs, loudly, hysterically actually. In hindsight, it probably wasn’t the most attractive reaction during a serious make out session but how can he not laugh at that statement? Jackson wipes at his eyes, tears had formed earlier. He notes that Jaebum had become tense underneath him.

“Hyung, oh my god, hyung, if you’re like into _that,_ I guess we can work on it but don’t spring stuff like that on me so fast,” he says before he pecks the other’s man’s lips.

The action doesn’t seem to calm down the man beneath him, in fact, he just seems to become even more rigid. Jackson figures it’s probably time (since the mood’s pretty much gone) to give the older man some space so he eases off Jaebum. Smiling gingerly at the other man, he sits on the other side of the car and leans on the door there.

“So hyung, you’ll bring me back to my place, right?”

That snaps Jaebum out of whatever contemplative state he was in, the other man sends him a fond smile and a nod. Jackson returns the smile. He clambers over to the passenger seat as the older man steps out of the car to get to the driver’s seat.  
  
“Hey Jackson-ah, do you want dinner again tomorrow?” Jaebum asks as starts the ignition. The SUV coming to life with a loud purr from its engine.   
  
“Of course, hyung. I’d like that,” he replies with a bright smile. He straps himself with the seatbelt and relaxes onto the leather seat.

The relatively long drive back to his apartment just makes the younger boy grin to himself. He’ll get more time to tease Jaebum about his weird vampire kink and to just generally enjoy the older man’s company. He sighs in contentment.

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey hey! Sorry if I haven't updated in like a month ;3; Been super busy this October and I got stuck on writing chapter 5 as well. Anyway, hope you enjoy! If you see any typos or grammar errors, point 'em out to me! :D So future updates may come slow because I've got a lot on my plate right now. Thank you for being patient with me!


End file.
